Jackie Forster (née Jacqueline Moir Mackenzie; 6 November 1926 – 10 October 1998
) was an English news reporter, actress and
lesbian rights activist.
[p.270 From the Closet to the Screen – Jill Gardner ]
Early history
Forster's father was a colonel in the
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...
and she spent her early years in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. When she was six, she was sent to
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
in Britain at
Wycombe Abbey
Wycombe Abbey is an independent girls' boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls schools in academic results.
The school was founded in 1896 by Dame Frances Dove (1847 ...
and then to
St Leonards School
St Leonards School is an independent boarding and day school for pupils aged 4–19 in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Founded in 1877 as St Andrews School for Girls Company, it adopted the St Leonards name upon moving to its current premises, the ...
in
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, she played
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
and
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
for Scotland.
Forster became an actress and joined the
Wilson Barrett
Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his suc ...
repertory company in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
before moving to London in 1950. She attended the
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London.
History
It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberl ...
Club was in various West End productions and films before developing a successful career as a TV presenter and news reporter under the name of Jacqueline MacKenzie.
In 1957 she was on a lecture tour in North America for part of the year and was in
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, when she had her first lesbian affair. Despite this she married author Peter Forster in 1958, but the marriage was over within two years as she accepted her true sexual identity. They divorced in 1962 and she went to live in Canada.
Of her early lesbian experiences, she said "I didn't see myself as being a lesbian, or her, because I didn't look as I imagined they did, and nor did she. We weren't short back and sides and natty gent's suiting. I got the image from ''
The Well of Loneliness
''The Well of Loneliness'' is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose " sexual inversion" (hom ...
'', like we all did. There were drug stores around the States, with these pulp books, lurid stories about lesbians who smoked cigars and had orgies with young girls. I thought, where are these women? We never met anyone we knew were lesbians. There were no other books that I found about lesbians, no films that we ever saw: nothing at all."
[p.34 From the Closet to the Screen – Jill Gardiner ]
In 1964, Forster returned to Britain to work for
Border Television
ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...
; and then eventually moved in with a girlfriend and her children in London.
Activism and legacy
In the 1960s Forster joined the
Minorities Research Group
The Minorities Research Group (MRG) (est. 1963)p.96 From the Closet to the Screen – Jill Gardiner was the first organisation to openly advocate the interests of lesbians in the United Kingdom. It was founded by four women who got together in r ...
and wrote for its journal ''Arena Three''. She would also regularly promote the magazine in the
Gateways club
The Gateways club was a noted lesbian nightclub located at 239 King's Road on the corner of Bramerton Street, Chelsea, London, England. It was the longest-surviving such club in the world, open by 1931 and legally becoming a members club in 1 ...
.
[p.122 From the Closet to the Screen – Jill Gardiner ]
Later on, she came out publicly in 1969 when she joined the
Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and went to serve on its executive committee.
She was in the first
Gay Pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...
march in the UK in August 1971.
In 1972 Forster was one of the founders of
Sappho
Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...
, which was a social group and one of the UK's longest-running lesbian publications (''Sappho'' magazine was published from 1972 to 1981, although the group continued to meet regularly for many more years). The Sappho group members used to meet in the Chepstow pub in
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...
and had speakers such as
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is an English poet, playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. Long an activist covering such issues as gay rights and animal rights, she campaigns especially on behalf of authors. She has receive ...
and
Anna Raeburn
Anna Raeburn (born 3 April 1944) is a British broadcaster, author and journalist who is best known for her role as an "agony aunt", giving advice on relationships and more general life problems. As a broadcaster, she has worked for Capital Rad ...
.
After Sappho, Forster became a member of
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
's Women's Committee.
From 1992 until her death in 1998 Forster was an active member of the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre management Committee
(now part of the
Glasgow Women's Library
Glasgow Women's Library is a public library, registered company and charity based in the Bridgeton area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the only accredited museum dedicated to women's history and provides information relevant to women's culture a ...
). In 1997 a BBC film crew came to the archive to film her for a programme about her life which was to be part of ''The Day That Changed My Life'' series. Her work has made a huge impact on shaping the archive.
On 6 November 2017,
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
commemorated her 91st birthday.
Television and film appearances
*''Caesar's Wife'', 1951, television acting role.
*''
You're Only Young Twice
''You're Only Young Twice'' was a British TV sitcom made and broadcast on the ITV network by Yorkshire Television from 6 September 1977 to 4 August 1981.
Plot
Set in Paradise Lodge retirement home, ''You're Only Young Twice'' was created an ...
'', 1952, film acting role as Nellie.
*''Love and Mr Lewisham'', 1953, television acting role.
*''The Wedding of Lili Marlene'', 1953, film acting role as Theatre Barmaid.
*''Serious Charge'', 1953, repertory theatre acting role.
*''The Broken Jug'', 1953, television acting role as Grete.
*''Gilbert Harding Finds Out'', 1954, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Lilacs in the Spring'', 1954, film acting role.
*''
The Dam Busters'', 1955, film acting role as Canteen Waitress.
*''
You Can't Escape
''You Can't Escape'' is a 1956 British drama film directed by Wilfred Eades and starring Noelle Middleton, Guy Rolfe and Robert Urquhart (actor), Robert Urquhart. It is based on the 1938 novel ''She Died Young'' by Alan Kennington.
It was release ...
'', 1955, television acting role as Mrs Baggerley.
*Grace Kelly's Monaco wedding to Prince Rainier, 1956, as straight-to-camera television reporter. Won a Prix D'Italia.
*''Pantomania or Dick Wittington'', 1956, television comedy acting role.
*''Tonight'', as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Hotfoot and Highlight'', as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Panorama'', as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Late Night Extra'', as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Trouble for Two'', 1958, television acting role in a sitcom.
*''Discovering America'', 1958–1960, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Jacqueline Mackenzie in America'', as straight-to-camera television reporter.
*''Speak for Yourself'', 1974 as television co-scriptwriter.
*''Gays: Speaking Up'', 1978 as interviewee.
*''We Recruit'', 1995, appearance in a Channel 4 television documentary about the
Lesbian Avengers
The Lesbian Avengers were founded in 1992 in New York City, the direct action group was formed with the intent to create an organization that focuses on lesbian issues and visibility through humorous and untraditional activism. The group was foun ...
.
*''From High Heels to Sensible Shoes'', 1997, contributor to the BBC television series ''The Day That Changed My Life''.
See also
*
LGBT rights in the United Kingdom
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have varied over time.
Prior to the formal introduction of Christianity in Britain in 597 AD, when Augustine of Ca ...
References
External links
Brighton Our StorySappho at the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre
Jackie Forster at the British Film Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Jackie
1926 births
1998 deaths
English people of Scottish descent
20th-century English actresses
Actresses from London
English film actresses
English television presenters
LGBT people from England
LGBT rights activists from England
People educated at St Leonards School
People educated at Wycombe Abbey
People from the London Borough of Islington
20th-century LGBT people