Jenni Murray

Dame Jenni Murray

Murray in 2011

Murray in 2011
Born Jennifer Susan Bailey
12 May 1950 (1950-05-12) (age 66)
Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, UK
Occupation Journalist and broadcaster

Dame Jennifer Susan "Jenni" Murray, DBE (née Bailey; born 12 May 1950[1]) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour since 1987.

She is married, for the second time, with two grown-up sons.

Early life

Murray was born in Barnsley in Yorkshire and attended Barnsley Girls High School, a grammar school, leaving with A levels in French, English and History.[2] She has a degree in French and Drama from the University of Hull.[3][4]

Career

Murray joined BBC Radio Bristol in 1973 before becoming a reporter and presenter for local news programme South Today. She was a newsreader and later one of the presenters of the BBC's Newsnight television programme for two years from 1983 before moving to Radio 4 to present the Today programme. She took over from Sue MacGregor as presenter of Woman's Hour in 1987. She has also presented Radio 4's The Message and written for magazines and newspapers including the Daily Express and the Daily Mail.[3][4]

She has written several books, including The Woman's Hour: A History of Women Since World War II; Is It Me or Is It Hot In Here: A Modern Woman's Guide to the Menopause; That's My Boy and Memoirs of a Not So Dutiful Daughter.[3]

Health issues

On 21 December 2006, Murray announced at the end of Woman's Hour that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.[5] She informed her audience that her prognosis was good; she did indeed return early in 2007. She reported that the most emotionally upsetting moment was losing her hair, and used this as an item on the centrality of hair to definitions of femininity.[6]

In 2008, she had a hip replacement following avascular necrosis, perhaps due to her earlier chemotherapy.[7]

Murray had a sleeve gastrectomy in June 2015, and had lost over 4 stone (56 lb; 25 kg) by October of that year.[8]

Honours

Murray was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting in 1999 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.[9][10]

In March 2012 she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Salford to recognise her contributions to the media industry as well as the growing links between the University and its neighbours at Salford Quays.[11]

Views

Murray holds the view that sex education classes should be moved to biology lessons. She also suggests that teenagers should be given pornography to watch and analyse in the same way they analyse literature.[12]

Charities

In November 2007 it was announced that Murray had been named Patron of British medical research charity, Breast Cancer Campaign.[13] She is also patron of the Family Planning Association, vice president of Parkinson's UK and a supporter of the British Humanist Association.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Birthday's today". The Telegraph. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2014. Ms Jenni Murray, broadcaster, 61
  2. ↑ Webber, Richard (17 July 2009). "Me and my school photo: Chatterbox Jenni Murray remembers playing hopscotch and her strict convent teachers". Daily Mail.
  3. 1 2 3 "Jenni Murray". BBC. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Jenni Murray". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Radio 4's Jenni Murray has cancer". BBC News. 21 December 2006.
  6. ↑ "''Woman's Hour'', 27 February 2007". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Murray, Jenni (15 October 2008). "'No one told me that my breast cancer treatment would leave me needing two new hips,' says Radio 4's Jenni Murray". Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Jenni Murray: 'I had 75% of my stomach removed". BBC News. 21 October 2015.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59808. p. 7. 11 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "Main list of the 2011 Queen's birthday honours recipients" (PDF). BBC News UK. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  11. ↑ "University of Salford". University of Salford. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Willgress, Lydia (11 October 2016). "Scrap sex education and make school children watch pornography, suggests Dame Jenni Murray". The Telegraph.
  13. ↑ "Article from". radiotoday.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  14. ↑ "Dame Jenni Murray". British Humanist Association. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
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