Happy (80th) Birthday Sir Edward Heath!

A feature of life after Downing Street for some former Prime Ministers is that their landmark birthdays are marked in a number of ways. These have included profiles in newspapers. For example, to mark his 80th birthday, the Guardian published an appreciation of Clement Attlee, written by John Dugdale MP. They have also included parties. For example, Margaret Thatcher marked her 70th with a dinner at Claridge's and her 80th with a reception at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Lady Thatcher's 70th was also marked with a dinner at Downing Street.

Other premiers emeritus to have had special birthdays marked with an event at Downing Street include James Callaghan, who had a reception at Downing Street for his 90th birthday, and Sir Edward Heath, who was born on this day in 1916 and marked his 80th birthday in 1996 with a party at Number Ten.

The Independent reported that Sir Edward was having a month of celebrations. In addition to the event at Downing Street, he was also having a banquet at the Savoy, a gala concert at Salisbury Cathedral with the English Chamber Orchestra on 13 July, to be followed the next day by a luncheon at his home in the Cathedral Close. These were in addition to a concert he conducted in Wiesbaden, Germany and a party in his Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency. The Independent also noted that Lady Thatcher was not invited to these events at Downing Street and the Savoy.

Sir Edward's Downing Street celebration was attended by Her Majesty The Queen and, as the New York Times reported in his obituary, included Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin and the pianist Ivo Pogorelich. A CD of pieces of music he had conducted - Sir Edward Heath – An 80th Birthday Celebration - was released. There was also a feature about him in Prospect magazine. There was also an article in The Guardian, highlighting some comments he had made in a World at One interview. 

Under the headline 'Edward Heath at 80 still plans to have the last word', Michael White wrote: 'The former Conservative premier Sir Edward Heath yesterday warmed up for his 80th birthday celebration today in characteristically candid style by giving yet another interview in which he criticised his government and his party.'

To borrow some words of Lady Thatcher's about herself, uttered during her 70th birthday party at Downing Street, which seem equally apt for Sir Edward on his 80th, 'For my part, I haven't changed. Well, you wouldn't expect me to, would you?'

By way of encore, in 2016, to mark what would have been Sir Edward's 100th birthday, Michael McManus wrote a book about him, Edward Heath A Singular Life.