Barbara Hosking
Barbara Nancy Hosking, CBE, FRSA, FRTS (4 November 1926 – 21 March 2021) was a British broadcaster and civil servant.
Early life
Hosking was born in
Career
Hosking began her career in broadcasting as a local correspondent for the
Outside of her working life, she was briefly a Labour member of Islington Borough Council (1962–64), President of the Media Society (1987–8) and a trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation, the 300 Group and the National Literacy Trust.[2]
In the 1999 Birthday Honours, Hosking was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), having been appointed an Officer of the order in the 1985 Birthday Honours; she had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 1988 and of the Royal Society of Arts. Ulster University awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1996.[2]
Personal life and views
Hosking spoke out about elitism in British society and government; in a 2017 interview with The New Statesman, she argued that "We are still much too class-ridden". She also commented on the "climate of acceptance" about the sexual harassment of women in the workplace which she encountered during her career in male-dominated spheres: "It's good that women are not now accepting abuse, though some of the terms are a bit difficult to understand".[3] Her memoirs, Exceeding My Brief: Memoirs of a Disobedient Civil Servant were published on 21 November 2017.[3]
Hosking died on 21 March 2021.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Barbara Hosking, Downing Street press secretary and pioneer of breakfast television – obituary". The Telegraph. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Hosking, Barbara Nancy", Who's Who 2017 (A & C Black; online edition, Oxford University Press, November 2016). Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d Chakalien, Anoosh (17 November 2017). "'I didn't know what I was': Barbara Hosking on working in Downing Street and coming out at 91". New Statesman. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ Hosking Exceeding my Brief; p. 12 &c