Mary Carmella Riddell (born 19 April 1952) is a British journalist. She has been a newspaper columnist for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', and served as the newspaper's assistant editor.

Early life

Riddell was born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

and attended

Boston High School Boston High School, also known as ''Boston High School for Girls'', is a selective grammar school and sixth form college for girls aged 11 to 18 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The school's sixth form has been coeducational since 1992. A 201 ...

, a girls'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. She studied Modern Languages at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. She grew up in a Catholic family with sisters Sheila and Maddi and brother John. Her sister is Professor Sheila Riddell (born 2 December 1953), an academic at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and Director of the Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity (CREID), who is married to Professor Ken Sorbie, Professor of Petroleum Engineering at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

since 1992.

Career

From 2001 to 2008, she was a columnist for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. She has also contributed to the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and 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 ...

''. Earlier in her career she was deputy editor of the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' newspaper, and women's and assistant editor of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

''. Riddell is a member of the advisory board of Out of Trouble, which is affiliated with the

Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punish ...

Personal life

Her mother (Emmeline Mary) Carmella, who died in Boston in 2006 aged 86,Boston Standard
/ref> received the MBE in the

1988 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1988 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

for charity work in Boston for

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

References

External links

Twitter

''Guardian'' and ''Observer''
contributor page
''New Statesman''
contributor page
''Daily Telegraph''
contributor page 1952 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham The Daily Telegraph people English women journalists People from Boston, Lincolnshire People from Grimsby The Observer people {{UK-journalist-stub