Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British
television and
radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''
The Guardian''.
Life and career
Born in
Manchester and raised in a
pub, she was educated at
Roedean School.
Banks-Smith began her career in journalism in 1951 as a reporter at the ''
Northern Daily Telegraph''. In 1955, after a brief period at the
women's section
The women's page (sometimes called home page or women's section) of a newspaper was a section devoted to covering news assumed to be of interest to women. Women's pages started out in the 19th century as society pages and eventually morphed into ...
of the ''
Sunday Mirror
The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...
'', she moved to the ''
Daily Herald
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' as a reporter. She worked for the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' from 1960 to 1965 as a feature writer, moving to be a TV critic for ''
The Sun'' in 1965. She left the newspaper in 1969 when it was bought by
Rupert Murdoch.
[Celebrating 40 years of Nancy Banks-Smith]
''The Guardian'', 4 February 2010
Banks-Smith began writing for ''
The Guardian'' in 1970, with her television column becoming a leading feature of the newspaper. She has remained with the paper since then, though by 2010 she no longer wrote daily reviews.
[ Until 2017, she wrote a monthly column for the paper entitled "A month in Ambridge", reviewing recent developments in the radio soap opera '' The Archers''.
]
Awards
In 1970, she was recommended for the Order of the British Empire, which she declined."Some who turned honours down"
''The Guardian'', 22 December 2003, retrieved 31 August 2012.
References
External links
Nancy Banks-Smitharchives of her television reviews in ''
The Guardian''
Last Night's TVArchive of Guardian TV reviews (multiple reviewers) from 24 Dec 1998 onwards
'A nice little job for a woman at home' Nancy Banks-Smith on her 30 years as a TV critic, ''The Guardian'', 21 November 2001
Nancy Banks-Smith Classic Reviews ''The Guardian'', 4 February 2010
1929 births
Living people
British television critics
Women television critics
The Guardian journalists
Writers from Manchester
Radio critics
{{UK-journalist-stub