Recent from talks
Woman's Hour
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1973. The programme features interviews and discussions with guests about issues relevant to a female audience. It is broadcast at 10:00am on weekdays and is presented by Nuala McGovern or Anita Rani. There is also a weekend version of the programme which features highlights from the week's programmes.
The first BBC programme for women was the programme called Women's Hour, which was first broadcast on 2 May 1923. The BBC was then a brand new organisation, just a few months old, grappling with the sorts of programmes that might appeal to its small but growing audience. With married women firmly based in the home, either through convention or because of marriage bars, the BBC would have been aware of this captive daytime audience. The person brought in to oversee Women's Hour was Mrs Ella Fitzgerald, a former Fleet Street journalist, and the inaugural programme included two talks, one on "The Adoption of Babies" given by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the other on "Fashions" by the couturier, Lady Duff Gordon.
Broadcast six days a week, initially at 5pm, Women's Hour encompassed topics such as cookery, infant welfare, poultry keeping, tennis, beauty culture, electricity in the home, society gossip and gardening. In many ways, it replicated the sorts of items that were then found in the women's pages of newspapers and Ella Fitzgerald often drew on her journalist friends to write and present talks. So, for example, regular "Kitchen Conversations" were given by the famous cookery writer Constance Peel while Edith Shackleton Heald spoke about journalism as a potential career for women. There was also space for political talks: the former suffragist, Mary Emmott, who sat on a number of local government committees, spoke on "How Local Government affects the Home", Alderman Miss Smee, who chaired Acton Council's Public Health Committee gave a talk on "Women and Public Health" and Lettice Fisher, the founder of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, talked about "Education".
The talks were broadcast from the BBC's first purpose-built studio at Savoy Hill, just off The Strand in London, where the organisation was based for its first ten years. It would have been quite a daunting process. Speakers would have waited outside the large curtain-draped space, clutching their scripts. When the time came to deliver their talk, they would then have stood before a large box-like structure – the microphone – where they would have been given a cue to start. It was then just a matter of continuing on until finished, hopeful that they hadn't spoken too slowly or too fast or made too many mistakes. In the absence of any recordings, it's not possible to know what these talks would have sounded like, but reception on rudimentary wireless sets would have been very poor. It's also impossible to know who would have been tuning-in to the programme in these very early days, but most probably they were the wives and mothers of radio enthusiasts who, evidence suggests, were overwhelmingly male.[citation needed]
Things would change for Women's Hour in December 1923, with the establishment of a Women's Advisory Committee to oversee the running of the programme. Amongst the prestigious membership were the Chairman of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, Lady Denman; the actress Dorothea Baird; the physician Dr Elizabeth Sloan Chesser and Violet Cambridge, the Secretary of the Women's Amateur Athletics Association. The first full meeting, in January 1924, raised questions about the sorts of talks that should be included in Women's Hour and also the time of day that it was broadcast. It was decided that two members of the Committee, Mrs Hardman Earle (who had worked for the Ministry of Food and Public Kitchens during the First World War) and Evelyn Gates (who was Editor-in-Chief of The Women's Yearbook) should appear on the following Saturday's programme to canvas listener views. The case for practical domestic talks was put forward by Hardman Earle while Evelyn Gates championed the case for lighter, escapist talks and listeners were also asked about when they could best tune-in.[citation needed]
The results of the 'plebiscite', as it was termed, were discussed at the February meeting of the Women's Advisory Committee. With the majority of the letters received (326 in all) voting for leisure rather than domestic talks, it was agreed that these should feature more prominently in the programme, which would be moved to a new time of 4pm. Writing about the change in the BBC listings periodical Radio Times, Ella Fitzgerald explained how "a tour of Constantinople" was substituted for "the cure of constipation" while "talks on the English countryside" replaced those about "stocking the kitchen cupboard". The decision was also taken at the meeting to abolish the name Women's Hour; in future Radio Times would simply state that "talks of general interest but with particular appeal to women" would be placed either side of the afternoon concert.
Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey, Woman's Hour was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC Light Programme. Janet Quigley, who was also involved with the birth of the UK radio programme Today, has been credited with "virtually creating" the programme.
The programme was transferred to its current home in 1973. Over the years it has been presented by Mary Hill (1946–1963), Joan Griffiths (1947–1949), Olive Shapley (1949–1953), Jean Metcalfe (1950–1968), Violet Carson (1952–1956), Marjorie Anderson (1958–1972), Teresa McGonagle (1958–1976), Judith Chalmers (1966–1970), Sue MacGregor (1972–1987), Jenni Murray (1987–2020), Martha Kearney (1998 to March 2007), and Jane Garvey (8 October 2007 to December 2020). Fill-in presenters have included Andrea Catherwood, Sangita Myska, Sheila McClennon, Carolyn Quinn, Jane Little, Ritula Shah, Oona King, and Amanda Platell. In September 2020 it was announced that Emma Barnett would become the lead presenter of Woman's Hour after the retirement of Jenni Murray, who presented her final edition on 1 October 2020. Barnett, who had been a fill-in presenter a number of times previously, became the youngest woman to regularly present the programme in January 2021. Anita Rani became the successor to Garvey as the second presenter in the same month.
Hub AI
Woman's Hour AI simulator
(@Woman's Hour_simulator)
Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1973. The programme features interviews and discussions with guests about issues relevant to a female audience. It is broadcast at 10:00am on weekdays and is presented by Nuala McGovern or Anita Rani. There is also a weekend version of the programme which features highlights from the week's programmes.
The first BBC programme for women was the programme called Women's Hour, which was first broadcast on 2 May 1923. The BBC was then a brand new organisation, just a few months old, grappling with the sorts of programmes that might appeal to its small but growing audience. With married women firmly based in the home, either through convention or because of marriage bars, the BBC would have been aware of this captive daytime audience. The person brought in to oversee Women's Hour was Mrs Ella Fitzgerald, a former Fleet Street journalist, and the inaugural programme included two talks, one on "The Adoption of Babies" given by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the other on "Fashions" by the couturier, Lady Duff Gordon.
Broadcast six days a week, initially at 5pm, Women's Hour encompassed topics such as cookery, infant welfare, poultry keeping, tennis, beauty culture, electricity in the home, society gossip and gardening. In many ways, it replicated the sorts of items that were then found in the women's pages of newspapers and Ella Fitzgerald often drew on her journalist friends to write and present talks. So, for example, regular "Kitchen Conversations" were given by the famous cookery writer Constance Peel while Edith Shackleton Heald spoke about journalism as a potential career for women. There was also space for political talks: the former suffragist, Mary Emmott, who sat on a number of local government committees, spoke on "How Local Government affects the Home", Alderman Miss Smee, who chaired Acton Council's Public Health Committee gave a talk on "Women and Public Health" and Lettice Fisher, the founder of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, talked about "Education".
The talks were broadcast from the BBC's first purpose-built studio at Savoy Hill, just off The Strand in London, where the organisation was based for its first ten years. It would have been quite a daunting process. Speakers would have waited outside the large curtain-draped space, clutching their scripts. When the time came to deliver their talk, they would then have stood before a large box-like structure – the microphone – where they would have been given a cue to start. It was then just a matter of continuing on until finished, hopeful that they hadn't spoken too slowly or too fast or made too many mistakes. In the absence of any recordings, it's not possible to know what these talks would have sounded like, but reception on rudimentary wireless sets would have been very poor. It's also impossible to know who would have been tuning-in to the programme in these very early days, but most probably they were the wives and mothers of radio enthusiasts who, evidence suggests, were overwhelmingly male.[citation needed]
Things would change for Women's Hour in December 1923, with the establishment of a Women's Advisory Committee to oversee the running of the programme. Amongst the prestigious membership were the Chairman of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, Lady Denman; the actress Dorothea Baird; the physician Dr Elizabeth Sloan Chesser and Violet Cambridge, the Secretary of the Women's Amateur Athletics Association. The first full meeting, in January 1924, raised questions about the sorts of talks that should be included in Women's Hour and also the time of day that it was broadcast. It was decided that two members of the Committee, Mrs Hardman Earle (who had worked for the Ministry of Food and Public Kitchens during the First World War) and Evelyn Gates (who was Editor-in-Chief of The Women's Yearbook) should appear on the following Saturday's programme to canvas listener views. The case for practical domestic talks was put forward by Hardman Earle while Evelyn Gates championed the case for lighter, escapist talks and listeners were also asked about when they could best tune-in.[citation needed]
The results of the 'plebiscite', as it was termed, were discussed at the February meeting of the Women's Advisory Committee. With the majority of the letters received (326 in all) voting for leisure rather than domestic talks, it was agreed that these should feature more prominently in the programme, which would be moved to a new time of 4pm. Writing about the change in the BBC listings periodical Radio Times, Ella Fitzgerald explained how "a tour of Constantinople" was substituted for "the cure of constipation" while "talks on the English countryside" replaced those about "stocking the kitchen cupboard". The decision was also taken at the meeting to abolish the name Women's Hour; in future Radio Times would simply state that "talks of general interest but with particular appeal to women" would be placed either side of the afternoon concert.
Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey, Woman's Hour was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC Light Programme. Janet Quigley, who was also involved with the birth of the UK radio programme Today, has been credited with "virtually creating" the programme.
The programme was transferred to its current home in 1973. Over the years it has been presented by Mary Hill (1946–1963), Joan Griffiths (1947–1949), Olive Shapley (1949–1953), Jean Metcalfe (1950–1968), Violet Carson (1952–1956), Marjorie Anderson (1958–1972), Teresa McGonagle (1958–1976), Judith Chalmers (1966–1970), Sue MacGregor (1972–1987), Jenni Murray (1987–2020), Martha Kearney (1998 to March 2007), and Jane Garvey (8 October 2007 to December 2020). Fill-in presenters have included Andrea Catherwood, Sangita Myska, Sheila McClennon, Carolyn Quinn, Jane Little, Ritula Shah, Oona King, and Amanda Platell. In September 2020 it was announced that Emma Barnett would become the lead presenter of Woman's Hour after the retirement of Jenni Murray, who presented her final edition on 1 October 2020. Barnett, who had been a fill-in presenter a number of times previously, became the youngest woman to regularly present the programme in January 2021. Anita Rani became the successor to Garvey as the second presenter in the same month.