Edward Heath

Sir Edward Richard George Heath, born July 9, 1916, in Broadstairs, Kent, and died July 17, 2005, served as Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from June 1970 to March 1974. His government negotiated Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, which took effect on January 1, 1973. His final months in office were dominated by industrial unrest, including a miners' strike and an energy crisis that led him to impose a three-day working week over the winter of 1973 to 1974; he lost the general election he called in February 1974 in the midst of that crisis.