Word: heaths
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...medieval and the delusory lay all around him in his youth. Born near Hampstead Heath in 1903, Evelyn (pronounced evil in) Waugh grew up in a nursery papered with "figures in medieval costume" and was assured by his mother that cities were "unhealthy and unnatural places of exile." His father, a publisher (Chapman & Hall) of theatrical disposition, was a sort of hearty Walter Mitty who continually pretended that he was somebody else. Evelyn himself, though somewhat daunted by Alec, an extraverted elder brother who also became a novelist (Island in the Sun), was a dreamy and credulous child who adored...
British voters were plainly uninterested in such issues. Hence the campaign centered on personalities: Labor's Harold Wilson against the Conservatives' Ted Heath. The odds were on Wilson. Gone was the reputation as a slippery opportunist that had hurt him in the 1964 election. Instead, though operating with a bare three-seat majority, Wilson had proved to be an able statesman who could handle his own left wing, was not afraid to slap down raise-happy trade unions. In Parliament his acerbic wit and quick thrusts had continually kept the Opposition off-balance. Heath had no such advantages...
Dangers of Defeat. While losing 51 seats, the Conservatives took not one seat away from another party. Swept out of the House were a dozen former Tory ministers, including onetime Chancellor of the Exchequer Peter Thorneycroft, former Aviation Minister Julian Amery, and onetime Minister of Agriculture Christopher Soames. Ted Heath managed to hold on to his seat in the genteel London suburb of Bexley, but his majority fell...
...dimensions of Labor's victory became clear, the normally ebullient Heath spoke soberly to reporters. Privately, he had not thought that he could beat Wilson, but he had hoped to hold Labor to a lean margin. "Our campaign was ahead of its time," explained Heath. "We did not succeed in convincing the people of the dangers facing the country. But as time passes, people will remember what was said in this campaign." Perhaps so, but as leader during such a defeat, Heath is in some danger of being dumped as the Conservatives reshape their strategy to challenge Labor...
Confident of victory, Wilson brushed aside Heath's charges, turning the accusations into attacks on the 13 years of Tory rule that preceded Wilson's brief 17 months in office. He was still coolly confident of victory as he made his way by train around the hustings. At one Labor rally, he was hit in the face by a stink bomb thrown by a 14-year-old boy. The fluid splashed into Wilson's right eye, and he retreated from the platform for emergency medical treatment. After two days the inflammation subsided, but the incident pointed...