Sir Alan Arthur Walters was a British economist who was best known as the Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1981 to 1983 and again for five months in 1989.
16 Facts About Alan Walters
2.
Alan Walters's father was a Communist and a grocer who sold goods from a van.
3.
Alan Walters failed his 11-Plus and attended Alderman Newton's School in Leicester, leaving at fifteen to work as a machine operator in a shoe factory.
4.
Alan Walters was one of the first British economists to argue that money was "of considerable importance" to economic activity, a view that became more widespread during "the Great Inflation" of the 1970s.
5.
Alan Walters argued forcefully that Britain should maintain strict monetary targets, and that the money supply should not be manipulated for political reasons.
6.
Alan Walters left this role in 1983 to join the American Enterprise Institute and at least some aspects of monetarist policies were publicly repudiated by Thatcher in 1985.
7.
Alan Walters did return to advise Thatcher in 1989, but his differences with the policies of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, led to the resignation of both men on 26 October 1989.
8.
Alan Walters supported the controversial and ill-fated Community Charge.
9.
Alan Walters opposed the similarly ill-fated policy of entry into the European Monetary System.
10.
In 1975, Alan Walters married Margaret Patricia Wilson, known as Paddie.
11.
Alan Walters had a daughter by a previous marriage to Audrey Claxton.
12.
Alan Walters was knighted in the Queen's 1983 Birthday Honours List.
13.
Alan Walters was an accomplished pianist, enjoying playing the works of Chopin and Beethoven.
14.
Alan Walters collected Thai porcelain and was a keen tennis player.
15.
Alan Walters was vice-chairman and Director of AIG Trading Group, Inc.
16.
Alan Walters died aged 82 at his home on 3 January 2009 after a short illness.