Barbara Nancy Hosking,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

, FRTS (4 November 1926 – 21 March 2021) was a British broadcaster and civil servant.

Early life

Hosking was born in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

on 4 November 1926, the daughter of William Henry Hosking and his wife Ada Kathleen, ''née'' Murrish. She was educated at West Cornwall School for Girls and

Hillcroft College Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College is a further education college located in Richmond and Surbiton in Greater London. It was established in 2017 by a merger between Richmond Adult Community College and the specialist Hillcroft Colleg ...

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

."Hosking, Barbara Nancy"
''Who's Who 2017'' (A & C Black; online edition, Oxford University Press, November 2016). Retrieved 18 November 2017. She has described her childhood as "miserable", especially after her disciplinarian father's dairy business went bankrupt during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

; her parents' marriage was also unhappy, with Hosking suspecting her father was adulterous.Hosking ''Exceeding my Brief''; p. 12 &c

Career

Hosking began her career in broadcasting as a local correspondent for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and the ''

Western Morning News The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western Mo ...

'' between 1945 and 1947. She then worked as an Editorial Assistant for The Circle,

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

and Gaumont cinemas until 1950. Between 1952 and 1955, she worked for the Labour Party as an assistant information officer and then spent two years as the General Manager's assistant at a

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

n copper mining company. She then worked in the Broadcasting Section of Labour Party until 1965 and then in press officer posts in the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

until 1977, during which time she served as an aide to the Prime Ministers

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

and

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

, the latter of whom she befriended. After working as Controller of Information Services at the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

between 1977 and 1986, Hosking moved to

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

to be a Political Consultant; then from 1992 to 1999 she was a Non-Executive Director of

Westcountry Television ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The com ...

, serving also as Deputy Chairman from 1997 to 1999, when she retired. 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 Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is a registered UK charity that operates in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada. It works with companies, private philanthropists, regular donors, fellow foundations, governments, cha ...

, the

300 Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cu ...

and the

National Literacy Trust The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity (registered no. 1116260 in England and Wales and registered no. SCO42944 in Scotland) based in London, England, that promotes literacy. It was founded by Sir Simon Hornby, former chairman of th ...

. In the

1999 Birthday Honours The 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday were announced on 7 June 1999 in New Zealand and Niue, and on 12 June 1999 in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.Tuvalu list: The recipients of honours a ...

, Hosking was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE), having been appointed an Officer of the order in the

1985 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to t ...

; she had been elected a Fellow of the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

in 1988 and of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

Ulster University sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1996.

Personal life and views

Hosking spoke out about elitism in British society and government; in a 2017 interview with ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'', 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". Her memoirs, ''Exceeding My Brief: Memoirs of a Disobedient Civil Servant'' were published on 21 November 2017. Hosking died on 21 March 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosking, Barbara 1926 births 2021 deaths British broadcasters British civil servants People from Penzance British LGBT civil servants English LGBT politicians Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century English LGBT people