Nina Myskow (born Janina Marcela Myskow) is a British journalist and television personality who was a columnist for '' The Sun'' and the '' News of the World'', under the byline "The Bitch on the Box", in the 1980s. She appeared on ''

New Faces ''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central. Original series: 197 ...

'', and has been a regular contributor on ''

Grumpy Old Women ''Grumpy Old Women'' is a British television series, continuing in the same vein as its predecessor, '' Grumpy Old Men''. Both programmes are shown on BBC Two. The first two series were narrated by Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 A ...

'' and on many countdown list shows.

Early life

Myskow was born in St Andrews in Fife Scotland to a Polish officer father and a Scottish school teacher mother. Her parents moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

after

World War II 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 opposing ...

and she attended Wykeham Collegiate School in Pietermaritzburg, where she learned to speak

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

.Nina Myskow at nyt
Retrieved 9 May 2015 She moved back to Scotland with her family at the age of 15 attending Bell Baxtar High School in

Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fi ...

. She studied English literature at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, but did not graduate.Nina Myskow at SeamusLyte
. Retrieved 9 May 2015

Career

Myskow was a writer for '' Jackie'' for some years and then became the first female editor of the magazine. She appeared as a panellist on ''

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and ...

'' and three series of ''New Faces''. She has reviewed the newspapers on '' This Morning'' and contributed to discussions on ''

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" the ...

'', '' Daybreak'' and '' The Michael Ball Show'', the last of which was cancelled in 2010. Her autobiography was entitled ''Love, Sex and the Pursuit of Chocolate''. She appeared on the '' Big Brother'' spin-off show ''

Big Brother's Bit on the Side This is a complete list of shows about and relating to ''Big Brother UK'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother''. The civilian edition ran from 2000 to 2018 and the celebrity edition ran from 2001 to 2018. ''Big Brother'' ''Big Brother'' was a daily sho ...

'' a number of times as well as entering the Big Brother House for a media training task in August 2012. In 2015 she appeared on a celebrity edition of game show ''

Pointless ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers t ...

'' with

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

and won a trophy. ''

The Sunday People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...

'' and Myskow, by then writing for the '' News of the World'', lost a libel action brought by the actress

Charlotte Cornwell Charlotte Cornwell (26 April 1949 – 16 January 2021) was an English actress, singer, and a celebrated teacher of acting on the faculty at the University of Southern California (2003-2012). She began her career as an actress in Richard Cott ...

in December 1985. A jury at the High Court awarded Cornwell £10,000 in damages. In an article for the ''People'', Myskow had referred to Cornwell as ugly and middle-aged, and written that her "bum is too big". The damages were raised to £11,500 at a retrial after Myskow appealed, but costs were awarded against Cornwell. Myskow has been criticised for stating that women doing their makeup on the train were "lazy and selfish", and that millennials are "snowflakes".

References

External links

Biography
* 1946 births Living people Alumni of the University of St Andrews British journalists Writers from St Andrews British people of Polish descent News of the World people The Sun (United Kingdom) people Scottish magazine editors LBC radio presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 4 presenters People educated at Bell Baxter High School {{UK-journalist-stub