32 Facts About Harold Wilson

1. Harold Wilson purchased five WSU hats Friday at The Bookie It's rare to fill rooms in Pullman and surrounding towns, she said, but that's what happened on Oregon weekend.

2. Harold Wilson was a strong advocate of developing the cold weather cash crops of northern Minnesota.

3. Harold Wilson coined the term 'Selsdon Man' to refer to the anti-interventionist policies of the Conservative leader Edward Heath, developed at a policy retreat held at the Selsdon Park Hotel in early 1970.

4. In 1967, Harold Wilson had a different interaction with a musical ensemble.

5. Harold Wilson exhibited his populist touch in June 1965 when he had the Beatles honoured with the award of MBE.

6. Harold Wilson died from colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease in May 1995, aged 79.

7. Harold Wilson was not especially active in the House of Lords, although he did initiate a debate on unemployment in May 1984.

8. Harold Wilson coined the name of charity War on Want in 1951.

9. On 16 March 1976, Harold Wilson announced his resignation as Prime Minister.

10. In 1975 Harold Wilson secretly offered Libya's dictator Muammar Gaddafi £14 million to stop arming the IRA, but Gaddafi demanded a far greater sum of money.

11. Harold Wilson survived as leader of the Labour party in opposition.

12. Harold Wilson declined to intervene in Rhodesia with military force, believing the British population would not support such action against their "kith and kin".

13. Harold Wilson was applauded by most nations for taking a firm stand on the issue.

14. In his memoirs, Harold Wilson writes of "selling LBJ a bum steer", a reference to Johnson's Texas roots, which conjured up images of cattle and cowboys in British minds.

15. Harold Wilson consistently avoided any commitment of British forces, giving as reasons British military commitments to the Malayan Emergency and British co-chairmanship of the 1954 Geneva Conference.

16. Harold Wilson believed in a strong "Special Relationship" with the United States and wanted to highlight his dealings with the White House to strengthen his own prestige as a statesman.

17. In 1966, Harold Wilson was created the first Chancellor of the newly created University of Bradford, a position he held until 1985.

18. Harold Wilson promoted the concept of an Open University, to give adults who had missed out on tertiary education a second chance through part-time study and distance learning.

19. Harold Wilson continued the rapid creation of new universities, in line with the recommendations of the Robbins Report, a bipartisan policy already in train when Labour took power.

20. Harold Wilson had entered power at a time when unemployment stood at around 400,000.

21. Harold Wilson made periodic attempts to mitigate inflation, largely through wage-price controls—better known in Britain as "prices and incomes policy".

22. Harold Wilson made capital without getting involved in the less salubrious aspects.

23. Harold Wilson was adopted as the left-wing candidate for the leadership, defeating Brown and James Callaghan to become the Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition.

24. Harold Wilson had never made much secret that his support of the left-wing Aneurin Bevan was opportunistic.

25. At this time, Harold Wilson was not yet regarded as a heavyweight politician: Hugh Dalton referred to him scornfully as "Nye [Bevan]'s dog".

26. Harold Wilson was becoming known in the Labour Party as a left-winger, and joined Aneurin Bevan and John Freeman in resigning from the government in April 1951 in protest at the introduction of National Health Service medical charges to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War.

27. Harold Wilson had tarnished his reputation in both political and official circles.

28. Harold Wilson was given the task during his Swiss holiday of taking a letter to Cripps informing him of the decision to devalue, to which Cripps had been opposed.

29. Harold Wilson was appointed President of the Board of Trade on 29 September 1947, becoming, at the age of 31, the youngest member of a British Cabinet in the 20th century.

30. In the 1945 general election, Harold Wilson won his seat in the Labour landslide.

31. Harold Wilson agreed to be adopted as the candidate immediately rather than delay until the election was called, and was therefore compelled to resign from his position in the Civil Service.

32. Harold Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on 11 March 1916.