All posts tagged: Dame

Tributes pour in for Dame Jenni Murray after death

Tributes pour in for Dame Jenni Murray after death

Published by Daniella Wilson

Tributes have been paid to beloved broadcaster, Dame Jenni Murray, who has died at the age of 75. Murray had been the host of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for over 30 years, having joined the programme in 1987 before her departure in 2020, making her its longest-serving presenter. BBC director-general Tim Davie led the tributes, describing Murray as “a broadcasting icon” who “created a safe space for her audiences thanks to her warmth, intelligence and courage”. “We shall all miss her terribly,” he said in a statement. “Her legacy endures in the countless conversations she started, the many issues she championed and the lives she touched.” Dame Jenni Murray. David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images Mohit Bakaya, controller at BBC Radio 4 and director of BBC speech audio, echoed Davie’s sentiments, describing Murray as “a formidable voice in British broadcasting who was warm, fearless and beloved by listeners”. Bakaya added: “During her decades at Woman’s Hour, she helped shape the national conversation with intelligence, rigour and a remarkable ability to connect with audiences. Jenni leaves an …

Dame Jenni Murray remembered: her deeply personal last piece for RT calling for dignity in death

Dame Jenni Murray remembered: her deeply personal last piece for RT calling for dignity in death

Published by Daniella Wilson

Broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray, best known for hosting BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for more than three decades, has died at the age of 75. A defining voice in British broadcasting, she spent 33 years on the programme, becoming its longest-serving presenter and conducting landmark interviews with figures including Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton and Margaret Atwood. Following the news of her death, BBC director general Tim Davie paid tribute to Murray as “a broadcasting icon”, while Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya described her as “warm, fearless and beloved by listeners”. Below, we revisit one of her most personal columns, first published in Radio Times magazine in February 2022, in which she reflects on death, dignity and the right to choose. I’ve been thinking a great deal about death in recent weeks and particularly asking what might be the manner of my own passing. My hope to have the right, when the time comes, to choose to die with dignity in my own home surrounded by the people who love me began some 16 years ago …

Dame Jenni Murray remembered: her deeply personal call for dignity in death

Dame Jenni Murray remembered: her deeply personal call for dignity in death

Published by Daniella Wilson

Broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray, best known for hosting BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for more than three decades, has died at the age of 75. A defining voice in British broadcasting, she spent 33 years on the programme, becoming its longest-serving presenter and conducting landmark interviews with figures including Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton and Margaret Atwood. Following the news of her death, BBC director general Tim Davie paid tribute to Murray as “a broadcasting icon”, while Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya described her as “warm, fearless and beloved by listeners”. Below, we revisit one of her most personal columns, first published in Radio Times magazine in February 2022, in which she reflects on death, dignity and the right to choose. I’ve been thinking a great deal about death in recent weeks and particularly asking what might be the manner of my own passing. My hope to have the right, when the time comes, to choose to die with dignity in my own home surrounded by the people who love me began some 16 years ago …

Dame Jenni Murray, former BBC journalist and broadcaster, dies aged 75

Dame Jenni Murray, former BBC journalist and broadcaster, dies aged 75

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Dame Jenni Murray, the esteemed broadcaster who presented BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for three decades, has died aged 75, the BBC confirmed. She became the programme’s longest-serving host, having joined in 1987 and departing in 2020. Tributes remember Dame Jenni as a “broadcasting icon” who leaves “an indelible legacy on generations of listeners”. Outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie: “This is incredibly sad news and our thoughts are with all of Dame Jenni’s family and friends. Dame Jenni was, simply put, a broadcasting icon. “Throughout her three groundbreaking decades on Woman’s Hour, Jenni created a safe space for her audience thanks to her warmth, intelligence and courage. Jenni Murray was made a dame in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to broadcasting (PA) “We shall all miss her terribly. Her legacy endures in the countless conversations she started, the many issues …

Deciphering Dame Muriel | Miranda Seymour

Deciphering Dame Muriel | Miranda Seymour

Published by José Betancourt

Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh in 1918 to an indulgent Scottish Jewish father whom she adored, Barney Camberg, and an English mother from an Anglican family, Cissy Uezzell, whose garrulousness and fondness for both pretty clothes and sweetly potent Madeira wine, of which she downed an impressive bottle a day (“my tonic”), left her watchful daughter unbeguiled. Cissy’s tiny and opinionated mother, Adelaide, shared the family’s modest apartment for six enlivening years. She provided a model for—among a splendid gang of subversive grandes dames—Lady Edwina Oliver in Loitering with Intent (1981), one of Spark’s wittiest and most autobiographical novels. Educated at Gillespie’s, the Edinburgh day school to which she later sent her son, Samuel Robin, Muriel was singled out by a warmhearted and art-loving teacher. Christina Kay’s naive attachment to Fascist Italy formed a significant strand in her recreation as the high-spirited Jean Brodie in her brilliant pupil’s sixth and best-known work of fiction, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961). The future novelist was crowned “Queen of Poetry” at Gillespie’s, where, according to …

Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray dies | UK News

Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray dies | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Journalist and broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray has died at the age of 75. Dame Jenni hosted the BBC’s Woman’s Hour for more than 30 years, stepping down in 2020. She received her damehood in recognition of her contribution to broadcasting in 2011, having been awarded an OBE in 1999. She announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. Dame Jenni was a “true professional and a pioneer”, talent management firm Knight Ayton said. In a statement, a spokeswoman for the firm said: “We are very sad to learn of the death of Dame Jenni Murray. “We started representing Jenni in 2020 as she was leaving Woman’s Hour after a long career at Radio 4. “True to her spirit of fun, she surprised many by taking part in ITV’s The Real Full Monty to great acclaim the same year. The announcement of her participation made front page news. Her reason for taking part was simple. To encourage more women to check for breast cancer. “Last year she returned to the BBC to present …

Dame Joan Collins, 92, reveals her honest thoughts on Botox, Ozempic and weight loss – exclusive

Dame Joan Collins, 92, reveals her honest thoughts on Botox, Ozempic and weight loss – exclusive

Published by Daniella Wilson

Celebrity nutritionist Gabriela Peacock is known for her expert dietary advice, and in HELLO!’s Don’t Judge Me video series the former model has peeked into the fridges of famous friends including the chef Lorraine Pascale, fashion designer Amanda Wakeley and writer Celia Walden. This week Gabriela, founder of founder of GP Nutrition,  joins the actress Dame Joan Collins at her favourite London spot, the luxury Mayfair hotel and restaurant Claridge’s, to discuss her culinary pleasures and favourite dining hotspots. © Hello!Dame Joan shared her wellness secrets with her friend Gabriela Peacock Joan, 92, who boasts a career spanning more than 70 years and is perhaps best known for playing Alexis Colby in the TV series Dynasty, is also a bestselling author, an international style icon and a mother of three. Wedding memories “I’ve spent so much time in Claridge’s,” Joan tells Gabriela when they meet for lunch. “It has so many memories. It’s where we had our wedding [to Percy Gibson, 24 years ago]… I had my Damehood party here, so it’s almost like a …

Inside Dame Tracey Emin’s world: why she’s ‘the most powerful’ British artist of her generation – exclusive

Inside Dame Tracey Emin’s world: why she’s ‘the most powerful’ British artist of her generation – exclusive

Published by Daniella Wilson

She was once known as the “bad girl of British art”, and now Dame Tracey Emin’s career is being celebrated at the Tate Modern in a major retrospective of her work, which spans four decades.  “She is probably our most significant – and certainly most powerful – British artist of her generation,” says Maria Balshaw, Tate director and curator of the exhibition. “She’s a household name.” © Photo © Tate (Jai Monaghan)My Bed is anticipated to draw the biggest crowds at the exhbition. Not least because of her unapologetic, uncompromising and confessional approach to her art. This has scandalised, moved and delighted public and critics in equal measure, as well as earning her celebrity fans including Harry Styles, Sir Elton John and Madonna, who recently paid the artist a visit in her hometown of Margate.  And before the exhibition opened on 27 February, more famous faces gathered in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern to celebrate her impact, among them actress Anna Friel and her daughter Gracie. Anna told HELLO! that she had been …

After anti-abortion backlash, Notre Dame professor declines director position

After anti-abortion backlash, Notre Dame professor declines director position

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — After weeks of backlash from anti-abortion Catholics, the University of Notre Dame associate professor who had been appointed to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies will not be accepting the post, a dean announced in an email Thursday (Feb. 26). Susan Ostermann, a scholar of regulatory compliance in South Asia, had contributed to opinion pieces promoting abortion rights and arguing that anti-abortion laws are built on lies and white supremacy.  “At present, the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction,” wrote Ostermann in a statement shared by Mary Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs, in an email announcing the decision. More than a dozen Catholic bishops, as well as Notre Dame students and alumni and other anti-abortion Catholics, had vocally opposed the appointment since it was announced Jan. 8, arguing that the university’s Catholic identity is under threat due to the appointment and other decisions made by the administration.  On Tuesday, Fort …