Gordon Reece

Reece was born in 1929 in Essex, and raised in Liverpool, the son of James Graham Reece, a motor engineer and businessman, and Beatrice Mary Reece (née Langton), a nurse. Reece's father was able to send the young Gordon to Ratcliffe College, a Roman Catholic boarding school in Leicestershire; a contemporary was Norman St John-Stevas, later Lord St John of Fawsley, who reported Reece to the school authorities for atheism. He read history at Downing College, Cambridge, and decided on a career in journalism. ==Career==

Reece worked for a time with the Liverpool Daily Post and then the Sunday Express. In 1960, Reece switched to train as a television producer and went on to work for ITN's News at Ten and produce religious programmes and chat shows. According to the Fleming archive, Thatcher then went on to have lessons from her for the best part of four years, from 1972 to 1976; Fleming died in 1978. Reece then taught Thatcher to lower and deepen her voice, advised on clothing, accompanied her to her television and radio interviews, and made sure that she avoided combative interviewers who would make her appear strident. Reece opposed a proposed television debate between Thatcher and Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1979. Callaghan dismissed politicians' interests in television programmes, saying "You have to appeal to ordinary voters, who are not very interested in politics." Thatcher won the 1979 general election. In 1980 Reece left for Los Angeles, to join Armand Hammer's Occidental Petroleum Corporation as a vice-president. For five years, he did his best to improve Hammer's public image. During the 1987 election he was appointed Thatcher's adviser for television, but Reece's ability to assist was limited because of his involvement as a PR consultant for Guinness in their take-over battle with Distillers. Reece continued to act as a troubleshooter for her with the media and colleagues. He was part of her team of advisers when she failed to retain the party leadership in November 1990. Unlike many of her entourage, he reportedly maintained good relations with Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister, John Major. ==Personal life and death==

In 1957 he married Elizabeth M. Johnson in Manchester. Their marriage was dissolved in 1977. The couple had six children. He died at The London Clinic on 22 September 2001, at the age of 71, six days shy of his birthday. ==Legacy==

Reece was awarded a knighthood in 1986, having refused appointment as CBE in 1981 on the grounds it was insufficient to his services. A depiction of Reece in his role in Thatcher's campaign for Conservative Party leadership and her subsequent election as PM is made in the 2012 motion picture The Iron Lady, in which he is portrayed by Roger Allam. ==References==