Tuesday, June 08, 2021

Did you know Margaret Thatcher's son was lost and missing during the 1982 Dakar rally? Suddenly, that had all heads of countries distracted from the daily business of running the world.

His foray in Le Mans prompted, aside from the Falklands war, one of the biggest news stories of 1982 (that an episode in the fourth season of The Crown is devoted to). It was there that one of the sponsors happened to mention that they were running three Peugeots in the Paris-Dakar rally, and would he like to do it? He answered in the affirmative and promptly forgot about it. When reminded that he was taking part, a year and a half later, he was not well prepared and a few days in when travelling across the Sahara he was reported missing in action.

Thatcher, his co-driver and the mechanic had last been spotted two days previously, driving in convoy with two other cars near the border between Mali and Algeria. It later transpired that they had become separated after stopping to repair a damaged rear axle. It was only after the rally organizers had failed to find the lost Peugeot 504 that Mrs Thatcher intervened, calling the Algerian ambassador for help. The official search utilized four Algerian planes and a helicopter, plus three French aircraft and a diverted RAF Hercules.

The trio were discovered safe and well on 15 January, six days after going missing and 31 miles off route with water rations down to two cups a day. Thatcher was reportedly ‘unaffected’ by the ordeal, saying that all he needed was ‘a beer and a sandwich, a bath and a shave.’ It was an Algerian air force plane that finally spotted them and Thatcher and his father were reunited and flown back to the UK in the Algerian presidential jet.

 A celebration dinner to mark 28-year-old Thatcher’s safe return was thrown and reportedly racked up a huge bill, which led to the Foreign Office being contacted. Mrs Thatcher was forced to cover the $2500 bill from her own pocket. (in 1982 dollars)


Following the rescue, Mark, his Paris-Dakar crew and his father celebrated in Tamanrasset, Algeria, racking up a dinner and drinks bill totaling more than 11,500 Algerian dinars — a small fortune in the impoverished country. Later, Denis and Mark flew to London on Algeria’s presidential airplane. Files released in 2012 show that Margaret reimbursed the British government £1,784.80 for the rescue operation to avoid accusations that she allowed taxpayers to foot the bill for her son’s misadventures.


Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was described today as "very distressed" by the disappearance of her race-driver son, Mark, during a trans-African competition. She canceled a meeting with the visiting Hungarian foreign minister after breaking into tears en route to a public function this morning.

After days of confused reports, Mark Thatcher, 28, his French co-driver, Charlotte Verney, 38, and a mechanic, were officially listed as missing yesterday. Planes have been searching since Monday. The two were last seen Friday along a remote, unpaved and largely unmarked desert route through Algeria and neighboring Mali. The French-organized, 6,000-mile endurance drive from Paris terminates in Dakar, Senegal on the western coast of Africa.



So The Boss (the prime minister) does entirely the right thing, picks up the phone to the ambassador in Algiers and says, "Can you find out what is going on?" The ambassador then rings the prefect of the region who says there are four people missing and that I am one of them.

So DT, Dad, decides to fly down to Tamanrasset the next day, where on night five the Colonel says, "Don't worry, we'll find him in the morning." Sure enough, they found me in three and a half hours the next morning. The Algerians had a well-organised, well- structured plan. Ground assets and air assets. It was coordinated with ground-to-air radios. I heard a Herc in a search pattern, fired a flare and within five minutes two Land-Rovers appeared.
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