TIL that it was once speculated that Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka was named after Margaret Thatcher

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**-Guardsman-**

From the 40k wiki, under Trivia:

It was once a popular theory that the character of Ghazghkull was based on the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher who was infamous for her aggressive personality in Britain in the 1980s. This was because of the character's surname -- Mag Uruk Thraka.

As the early editions of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy Battle often contained elements of comedy or real-world satire or parody, this seemed a real possibility.

However, Andy Chambers later revealed that in fact the name had emerged from his gaming group's practices while live action roleplaying.

**pm713**

To be honest I still think he's named after Margaret but they stopped it when they started changing into more of a business where that kind of thing could draw criticism.

**BrianDavion**

pm713 wrote:
To be honest I still think he's named after Margaret but they stopped it when they started changing into more of a business where that kind of thing could draw criticism.

thats my guess too. basicly "they named him after Thatcher but they're never going to ADMIT it"

especially as Andy Chambers says "wicked witch" suggested if they did name Ghaz after Thatcher, it wasn't intended to honor her. making political statements like that can be risky, especially given how polarized things are now, so yeaaah

**Gadzilla666**

BrianDavion wrote:
pm713 wrote:
To be honest I still think he's named after Margaret but they stopped it when they started changing into more of a business where that kind of thing could draw criticism.

thats my guess too. basicly "they named him after Thatcher but they're never going to ADMIT it"

especially as Andy Chambers says "wicked witch" suggested if they did name Ghaz after Thatcher, it wasn't intended to honor her. making political statements like that can be risky, especially given how polarized things are now, so yeaaah

Right, at some point gw decided that the most important thing was how many models and books THEY SOLD , so they refuse to admit Ghaz is named after Thatcher in order to stay OUT of trouble.

**chimera0205**

Wait hes not?

**Tiennos**

Yeah, getting involved in politics could only hurt GW's sales; no matter who they'd decide to support or oppose, they'd be getting flak from the other aisle.

So it's hard to believe that there's no connection with Thatcher at all, but it's not like we can really prove there is either...

**dalezzz**

Has anyone’s still got the old WD article where ghaz was created ? Might shed some light

**Lord Damocles**

dalezzz wrote:
Has anyone’s still got the old WD article where ghaz was created ? Might shed some light

The original article (134 UK) doesn't mention where the name came from.

**Animus**

I don't buy that this is a stunt to remain apolitical, and sweep Ghaz's true name origin under the rug.
If it was why would Chambers then go to insult Thatcher in the same post he makes the supposed cover up?

I had heard of Ghaz being named after Thatcher before, but I had always thought it was a bit strange. Orks are representative of the working or lower classes, or at least the hooligan element therein, so it makes little sense to name a big warboss after essentially the opposite.

**Lord Damocles**

I don't have any particular opinion either way, but after a brief search, I can't find a lexicon for Black Speech which would result in the translation Chambers arrived at.

Of course it's possible that he partly made it up, but at that point any similarity to Thatcher's name could easily cease to be a coincidence, which doesn't really help us.