In the wake of Nelson Mandela's passing, a great many people will come forward to offer their reflections on a man who suffered for decades in order to help black South Africans defeat Apartheid. Let's not forget, then, there once was a time when mainstream political notables had no qualms slurring Mandela and the African National Congress—and whitewashing the crimes of Apartheid South Africa. Here are some of those instances.

On Wednesday, over 2,300 mourners attended the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London.

In fashion typical of the day, a horse-drawn carriage delivered Margaret Thatcher's coffin to St. Paul's Cathedral in London earlier this morning. The procession route passed a divided crowd, split between cheerers and hecklers. The threat of demonstrations, particularly those from Irish Republicans, caused an influx of security throughout London. The procession was flanked with British Army, Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy as well as over 4,000 Metropolitan Police on duty for the event.

The lives of great figures often resonate with the lives of the ordinary multitudes who admire them. Here's a roundup of some people who found Margaret Thatcher inspirational, and even sympathetic. Truly, the story of the Iron Lady contained a piece of everyone's story.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century, and the first and only female prime minister, has died of a stroke at age 87.

Recork your champagne: Margaret Thatcher is not dead. A French breaking news Twitter account LesNews apparently started a fake rumor that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died. Their source: a tweet from a fake Carla Bruni Twitter account.

Here's the first non-teaser trailer for the new Meryl Streep-starring Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady. She nails the voice! But is "heroic" really the right tone for a Thatcher movie? (Or "funny," for that matter?) Or maybe the studios are just hoping that no one remembers who she was, so they can sell her as a transcendental figure, rather than a venal, racist warmonger and friend of oppressive regimes the world over? Whatever the case, the soundtrack is going to be good, for sure. Never has a single individual inspired so much great music!

Here's a brief teaser trailer for the upcoming Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, featuring a bewigged and betoothed Meryl Streep as the loved/reviled former British Prime Minister. It seems like she's got the voice down! Now let's just see if she can use her wizardry make the bigoted, union busting Pinochet pal sympathetic.

Londoners have a 10-foot-tall sculpture of Ronald Reagan to call their own. Unveiled at its permanent home outside the American Embassy, the statue was constructed at a cost of $1 million, paid for by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation "as part of a worldwide effort to promote his legacy" in this, the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Last week the UK papers reported that O.G. Tough Conservative Lady Margaret Thatcher had zero interest in hanging out with creepy-media obsession Sarah Palin during Palin's upcoming visit to London. Now a former Thatcher aide says those news stories were bloody LIES.

Today we heard that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will not take an audience with Sarah Palin. Awwww, nuts! Sarah had so much she wanted to say to the Iron Lady. What, exactly, did she want to talk about? One commenters knows.

Britain's most famous old conservative lady, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, does not appear to have time in her schedule to take a house call from Sarah Palin. Tut, tut. Whatever else shall Palin do during her upcoming trip to London? Meet with that pretender, David Cameron? One would prefer stay at home.

Today in Trades we have two items about Meryl Streep, Maria Bello considers stepping into Helen Mirren's old shoes, Glee gets on the tour bus once more, and other news.

Watch out, England and Israel: It appears as though our most notorious American grifter, Sarah Palin, is heading your way in the new year. At the very least, lock up your good jewelry.

Results from a new survey suggest that a majority of women (in Britain) believe that former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is the most influential woman in the world. She even beat out Oprah! (What?) And Mother Teresa.

That's a lot of money! Anguilla must be so embarrassed. Also today: Meryl Streep as the Iron Lady, two vampiresses team up to kill people, Judd Apatow heads to the Playhouse, and Scream finds another victim.

Former British conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher is old and sick and barely does anything anymore. But now Sarah Palin wants a photo-op, so Thatcher may just drag herself out of bed yet, to be polite.

The cat! We mean the cat! Sorry, we didn't mean to confuse you, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. We just had no idea Canada was so gullible!

You knew this was coming. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are getting married today. They got covered in the NYT's Weddings & Celebrations pages. This is what happens when you pitch Weddings Expert Phyllis Nefler a fastball down the middle:

Sacha Baron Cohen turns 38 today. Ashanti is turning 29. Paul Simon is 68. Kelly Preston is turning 47. Kate Walsh of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice is 42. Model Beverly Johnson is 57. Ivan Bart, the head of IMG Models, is turning 46. Billionaire Tom Tisch turns 55. Mega art dealer William Acquavella is 72. Sammy Hagar of Van Halen is 62. Access Hollywood's Billy Bush is turning 38. George Bush's former spokesman, Ari Fleischer, is 49. Marie Osmond is 50. Retired NFL star Jerry Rice is 47. Serena Altschul, the former MTV VJ and CBS News correspondent, is 39. Margaret Thatcher is 84. And Donald Trump's least famous child, Tiffany Trump, celebrates her 16th birthday today.