Audrey Russell

British radio commentator and war correspondent (1906–1989)

Audrey Russel MVO
Born	(1906-06-29)29 June 1906 Dublin, Ireland
Died	8 August 1989(1989-08-08) (aged 83) Woking, Surrey, England

Muriel Audrey Russell, MVO (29 June 1906 – 8 August 1989) was a BBC Radio journalist (then called a "commentator"), the BBC's first female news reporter, and, in 1944, the first accredited female war reporter.^[1]^[2]

Russell was born in Dublin on 29 June 1906, to Muriel (née Metcalfe) and John Strangman Russell. Her father was director of his family's woollen mill.^[2] She was their only child.^[2] Her maternal uncle was E. Dudley "Fruity" Metcalfe, a close friend of Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII).^[2]

She was home-educated governesses, before attending a private boarding-school called Southlands, at Harrow. She then went to a finishing school at the Villa St Georges, Neuilly, Paris.^[2]

After training at the Central School of Speech and Drama,^[2] she became an actress (her stage debut was at the Lyric in London in 1937) and stage manager,^[2] and joined the BBC in 1942^[3] after being discovered by them when interviewed about her wartime work for the National Fire Service.^[2]

She travelled to mainland Europe just after the D-Day landings and reported from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Norway, before returning on health grounds in March 1945.^[2]

In 1953, Russell gave a live commentary on the Coronation of Elizabeth II, from inside Westminster Abbey.^[4] She also gave commentary on the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.^[3]

She appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 29 July 1957.^[5] In 1967, she was granted the freedom of the City of London, and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the 1976 Birthday Honours.^[2]^[6] Her autobiography, A Certain Voice, was published in 1984.^[7] She died of Alzheimer's disease in Woking, Surrey, on 8 August 1989.^[2] An obituary, calling here the "grande dame of radio's vintage years", was published in The Times.^[7]

Her World War II military uniform (though non-combatants, war correspondents held military rank) is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.^[3]

Bibliography

Russell, Audrey (1984). A Certain Voice. Ross Anderson Publications. ISBN 0-86360-017-4.

References

^ "Women in news or 'news tarts'?". BBC Online. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Pimlott Baker, Anne (2004). "Audrey Russell". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Beret (war correspondent)". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
^ "BBC radio coverage of The Coronation - 1953". Retrieved 26 July 2014.
^ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Audrey Russell". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
^ "No. 46919". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1976. p. 8018.
^ ^a ^b "Audrey Russell". The Times. No. 63469. 10 August 1989. p. 14.