MARGARET Thatcher met The Wombles theme tune composer when she was blown out by Kate Bush.
The Iron Lady had hoped to meet a pop star on a visit to Abbey Road studios.
But vague promises that Wuthering Heights singer Kate, now 61, or The Who rocker Roger Daltrey, 75, might be there came to nothing.
Instead, the Tory Prime Minister got to chat with Mike Batt, best known for writing The Wombling Song, newly released files show.
However, the pair bonded over a shared low opinion of the Musicians’ Union and Mike, now 71, gave her some Wombles CDs.
She wrote to thank him, saying: “I look forward to sharing these with my grandson.”
Details of the 1990 visit emerged in documents released by the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust.
They included a briefing note by Mrs T’s private secretary Caroline Slocock, who told her: “You will meet, amongst others, Mike Batt, who composed the theme music for Wombles of Wimbledon, a BBC programme about creatures who picked up litter from Wimbledon Common.”
She said that the lyrics were “very well remembered” but, to help her, she typed out the famous lines: “Underground, over-ground, wombling free/ The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we.”
The former PM also posed on the zebra crossing outside — but heading in the opposite direction to The Beatles in their album cover photo.
The trust’s Chris Collins said: “Everybody else who copies the picture does it the right way.
“It’s kind of typical Thatcher that she could actually get it wrong.”
Boris ‘an influence’
A COMMONS statement by Maggie which helped trigger her downfall may have been influenced by a news story by Boris Johnson, documents suggest.
The piece about EC president Jacques Delors was written in October 1990 when Boris worked for the Daily Telegraph.
It was headlined “British Right Of Veto Faces Axe In Delors Plan”.
Maggie marked lines on a cutting of the article in her despatch box file and defiantly declared “no, no, no” to Delors.
But Chris Collins, of The Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust, said the article was “not quite right”.
