Unsure whether to reveal this, but my mother's cousin was the Senior Deputy Chairman of the NCB at the time of the strike, serving under firstly Derek Ezra and then Ian McGregor. Though I never met him (a retired headmaster), I often visited his parents on my own when I was lad.

I researched his career recently. As early as 1973, Ezra received a plan of action from Wilfred Mirion (a former Chairman of the East Midlands NCB Division) which proposed 1) automation to replace miners at the coalface; 2) changing shift patterns; 3) an attempt at gasification of coal in seam to eliminate the need for any underground work-force and 4) a pit incentive scheme to politically divide the area Unions. This last prong was because Mirion had identified that the executive of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) would become increasingly politically oriented towards the left, rather than peopled by moderate men.

The plan was adopted and my relative was one of two men who implemented it. He was involved in negotiations with Scargill and McGahey and fronted several meetings with miners, receiving a CBE for his efforts.

I don't support the NCB, but during my research I was struck by the proliferation of photos in book after book of striking miners, their militant wives, picket lines - which were all so newsworthy and graphically aroused feelings of solidarity with the miners. On the other hand, sections of the workforce broke away from the NUM, disagreeing with their stance, and formed a new union - just as was predicted.

I also saw that my relative genuinely was 'a coalman'. He was a highly qualified engineer. But it was obvious to him that mining coal was becoming an increasingly expensive business and that mechanisation (which meant the loss of jobs) was the only way to go forward. In hindsight, and with the present-day move to cut coal mining as part of the war against global warming, running down the mining of coal in the UK was inevitable - it was a battle that couldn't be won.

The NCB was maligned - but there are several books which deal with the strike (many of which imo are obviously biased). Some can be found in Google Books such as Britain's Civil War over Coal: An Insider's View by David Feickert.