Joan Bakewell

"Baroness Bakewell" redirects here. Not to be confused withCathy Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville.

Dame Joan Dawson Bakewell, Baroness Bakewell(néeRowlands;born 16 April 1933), is an English journalist, television presenter andLabour Partypeer.Baroness Bakewell is president ofBirkbeck, University of London;she is also an author and playwright, and has received aHumanist of the Yearaward for services tohumanism.

The Right Honourable The Baroness Bakewell DBEHonFBAFRSA
Bakewell in 2018
Born	Joan Dawson Rowlands (1933-04-16)16 April 1933 Heaton Moor,England
Education	Newnham College, Cambridge(BA)
Occupations	TV presenter newsreader journalist
Years active	1965–present
Employer	BBC
Title	President ofBirkbeck, University of London
Political party	Labour
Spouses	Michael Bakewell ​ ​ (m.1955;div.1972)​ Jack Emery ​ ​ (m.1975;div.2001)​
Children	2

Early life and education

Bakewell was born on 16 April 1933 inHeaton Moor,Stockport,Cheshire,England, and moved toHazel Grovebefore she was three.Both her grandfathers were factory workers: the Rowlands branch stemmed from the lead mining villages of theYstwyth valley,in Wales. Her great-grandfather moved toSalford,where he was apreacherin theChurch Army.Her grandfather was an iron turner. On the maternal side, her grandfather was acooperin Ardwick Brewery. The family lived inGorton,a district of Manchester.

Bakewell was educated atStockport High School for Girls,agrammar schoolin local authority control, where she becamehead girl.She won ascholarshipand attendedNewnham College, Cambridge,where she studied Economics, then History,and joined theMarshall Societyand the Mummers Acting Society.

Career

Broadcasting

Joan Bakewell began her career as a studio manager forBBC Radio,before moving into television.Bakewell then left after a year to try supply teaching. She then became an advertising copywriter with McCann Erickson, then with Hobson Bates, and later David Williams Ltd. In the early 60s Bakewell was TV presenter for ATV’s Sunday Break, Southern Television’s Home at 4.30, BBC’s Meeting Point and the BBC series The Second Sex.

She first became known as one of the presenters of theBBC2programmeLate Night Line-Up(1965–72 and 2008).Frank Muirdubbed her "thethinking man's crumpet"during this period and the moniker stuck, but Bakewell herself dislikes the epithet.In 1968, she took the role of narrator of the BBC TV production ofCold Comfort Farm,a three-part serial, and played a TV interviewer in the 1960s filmThe Touchables.

Bakewell co-presentedReports Action,a Sunday teatime programme which encouraged the public to donate their services to various good causes, forGranada Televisionin 1976–78. In the 1970s Bakewell worked for both the BBC: "Where is Your God?", "Who Cares" "The Affirmative Way" and many Holiday Programmes between 1974 and 1978. Bakewell starred in 4 series of Granada’s pioneering Reports Action, a series that first encouraged the public to contribute goods and services to good causes. Subsequently, she returned to the BBC, and co-presented a short-lived late-night television arts programme, briefly worked on theBBC Radio 4PMprogramme, and wasNewsnight's arts correspondent (1986–88). Arts coverage was then dropped from news programmes in the era ofJohn Birt's changes to the BBC. Bakewell switched to being the main presenter of the ethics documentary seriesHeart of the Matter,which she presented for 12 years.She resigned from the programme in 1999.

In 2001, Bakewell wrote and presented a four-part series for BBC Two calledTaboo,a personal exploration of the concepts oftaste,decencyand censorship. The programme dealt frankly with sex and nudity and in some cases pushed the boundaries of what is permissible on mainstream television.Bakewell used frank language and "four-letter words" to describe pornography and sex toys. She watched a couple having sex while they were making a pornographic film and read out an "obscene" extract from the novelTropic of CancerbyHenry Miller.

Taboowas referred to theDirector of Public Prosecutionsby theNational Viewers' and Listeners' Association,then headed by John Beyer. Following the complaint, Bakewell faced the nominal prospect of being charged withblasphemous libelafter she recited part of an erotic poem byJames Kirkupconcerning a Roman centurion's affection for Jesus, "The Love that Dares to Speak its Name".After its first publication in 1976,Denis Lemon, the editor ofGay News,had been given a nine-month suspended jail sentence.Bakewell later wrote that in the programme she "read this poem with extreme distaste and I hope that showed on my face."The Broadcasting Standards Commission rejected complaints from viewers.

On 26 May 2008, Bakewell introduced an archive evening onBBC ParliamentcalledPermissive Night.The programme examined the liberalising legislation passed byParliamentin the late 1960s. Topics covered included changes to divorce law, thedeath penalty,the legalisation ofabortion,theRace Relations Bill,thepartial decriminalisationof homosexual acts (using editions of the documentary seriesMan Alive) and the relaxation of censorship.Permissive Nightconcluded with a special one-off edition ofLate Night Line-Upwhich discussed the themes raised in the programmes over the course of the evening.

In 2009, she won the category Journalist of the Year at the annualStonewall Awards.

In 2017, Bakewell was one of the minor hosts of theChannel 5documentary seriesSecrets of the National Trust.

OnSky Arts,Bakewell co-hostedPortrait Artist of the YearandLandscape Artist of the Year,initially alongsideFrank Skinnerand laterStephen Mangan.

Radio and television

Year	Programme
1979–1981	BBC Radio 4 PM
1981–1987	BBC Television Arts Correspondent
1987–1999	Heart of the Matter Host
1999–2000	Radio 3's Artist of the Week
2001–2014	Radio 3’s Belief Series
2009–2016	Radio 4’s Inside the Ethics Committee
2011–2012	Classic FM Series
2013–2022	Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
2015–2022	Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
2017–2020	Radio 4’s We Need to Talk about Death

Writing

Bakewell writes for the British newspaperThe Independentin the "Editorial and Opinion" section. Typically, her articles concern aspects of social life and culture but sometimes she writes more political articles, often focusing on aspects relevant to life in the United Kingdom. Formerly, from 2003, she wrote the "Just Seventy" column forThe Guardiannewspaper. In September 2008, she began a fortnightly column in the Times2 section ofThe Times.

Her first novel was published in March 2009 byVirago Press.All the Nice Girlsdrew on her experiences in war-time Merseyside to tell the story of a school "adopting" a ship.

Publications

Year	Publication
1970	The New Priesthood(with Professor Nick Garnham)
1970	A Fine and Private Place(with John Drummond)
1977	The Complete Traveller
2003	The Centre of the Bed
2005	Belief
2006	The View from Here
2009	All the Nice Girls
2011	She's Leaving Home
2016	Stop the Clocks
2021	The Tick of Two Clocks

Journalism

Year	Publication	Occupation
1970	Manchester Evening News	Columnist
1970	The Times	Television Critic
1970	The Illustrated London News	Profile Writer
1987–1990	The Sunday Times	Columnist
2003–2005	The Guardian	Columnist
2006–2008	The Independent	Columnist
2008–2010	The Times	Columnist

Public roles

She is chairman of the theatre companyShared Experience.

She is a Patron for thePlaza Cinema, Stockport.

It was announced in November 2010 that she would be awarded alife peerage,joining theLabourbenches. She was createdBaroness Bakewell,ofStockportin theCounty of Greater Manchester,on 21 January 2011,and formally introduced to theHouse of Lordson 25 January 2011supported by fellow Labour peersLord PuttnamandBaroness Kennedy.

In September 2017, Bakewell was elected co-chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group,the cross-party group that representshumanistsin Parliament.

Public life

Year	Organization
1984–1999	Council of the Friends of the Tate Gallery
1994–2003	Board of the Royal National Theatre
1994–2003	Governor at the BFI
1998–2003	Board of the Royal National Theatre
2000–2002	Chair of the BFI
2004–2011	Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts
2007–2012	Chair of the theatre company: Shared Experience

Labour peer

Year	Position
1999	Awarded CBE
2008	Awarded DBE
2011	Member of the House of Lords.
2013–2015	Communications Committee of the House of Lords
2016–2018	The Speaker's Arts Advisory Panel
2017	Select Committee on AI
2017	Joint Chair of the Humanists APPG
2019	Select Committee on the Regeneration of the Seaside
2019	Elected member of the British Academy

Views and advocacy

In 2008, Bakewell criticised the absence of older women on British television. She said: "I think the fact that people are phased out, people likeMoira StuartandSelina[Scott] – out of the public eye – when they become a certain age is a real disadvantage to serious broadcasting. There's a whole segment of the British population that does not see its equivalent in serious broadcasting and that is women over 55. Now, that is not healthy for a broadcasting organisation's relationship with its audience. The public should be represented on the screen in various colours, forms, sexualities, whatever. "

In 2010, Bakewell criticised the side effects of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. She said: "I never thought I would hear myself say as much, but I'm withMrs Whitehouseon this one. The liberal mood back in the '60s was that sex was pleasurable and wholesome and shouldn't be seen as dirty and wicked. The Pill allowed women to make choices for themselves. Of course, that meant the risk of making the wrong choice. But we all hoped girls would grow to handle the new freedoms wisely. Then everything came to be about money: so now sex is about money, too. Why else sexualise the clothes of little girls, run TV channels of naked wives, have sex magazines edging out the serious stuff on newsagents' shelves? It's money that's corrupted us and women are being used and are even collaborating. "

In August 2014, Bakewell was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter toThe Guardianexpressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September'sreferendum on that issue.

In March 2016, she commented inThe Sunday Timesthatanorexiais connected with a general narcissism in 21st century western culture, and that "no-one has anorexia in societies where there is not enough food".Despite agreement with her assessment in some media,her comments also provoked strong criticism from social and print media, and an apology for hurt caused from Bakewell herself.

In April 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic,Bakewell said that the Government should stop treating the elderly like "a crazy old people's club" and allow them to make their own choices on how best to ensure their personal safety.

Honours

She was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the1999 Birthday Honoursand was Chairman of theBritish Film Institutefrom 2000 to 2002. She was promoted toDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire(DBE) in the2008 Birthday Honours.

In 2007, she was awarded theHonorary degreeofDoctor of Letters(D.Litt) from theUniversity of Chester.On 20 July 2011, Bakewell was made an honorary graduate at theUniversity of Essex(DU Essex).

Bakewell has also received honorary degrees fromQueen Margaret University,Edinburgh (2005),Royal Holloway, University of London,University of the Arts London(2008),Staffordshire University(2009),Lancaster University(2010),Newcastle University(2011), Open University (2010) andManchester Metropolitan University(2013).She was made an Honorary Fellow ofNewnham College, Cambridge,in 2016.

In 2017, the charityHumanists UKawarded Bakewell its prize for Humanist of the Year, in recognition of her achievements in broadcasting and services to humanism and other good causes.In 2011, she was appointed Baroness Bakewell of Stockport.

Personal life

Bakewell'sautobiography,The Centre of the Bed,was published in 2003 and concentrates on her experiences as a woman in the male-dominated media industry. It also details the extramarital affair Bakewell had with playwrightHarold Pinter(between 1962 and 1969), while she was married toMichael Bakewell(the marriage lasted from 1955 to 1972) and Pinter was married to the actressVivien Merchant.The affair was the basis for Pinter's 1978 playBetrayal,adapted in 1983 as afilm.In 2017,Keeping in Touch,a play first written by Bakewell in 1978 in response toBetrayal,premiered onBBC Radio 4.

In 1975, she marriedJack Emery,a British director, writer and producer for stage, TV and radio, who was 12 years her junior. The couple divorced in 2001. Bakewell said, "The age difference did matter, but other things mattered more."

For years, she received poison-pen letters from a stalker obsessed with women in the public eye. She appeared onCrimewatchin March 2001 in an appeal to catch the culprit.

In January 2023, Bakewell announced that she had been diagnosed withcolon cancer.

Legacy

The Joan Bakewell Archive is housed at theBritish Library.The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.

External links

• Joan BakewellatIMDb
• "Lost voices",John Mullan,The Guardian,18 June 1999.
• Listen to an audio slideshow interview with Joan Bakewelltalking about her first novelAll the Nice GirlsonThe Interview Online.
• Joan Bakewellat Knight Ayton Management
• Joan Bakewell Official Website