Susan Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988–2006, Lawley was the presenter of ''
Desert Island Discs'' on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
.
Early life and education
Sue Lawley was born at
Sedgley, near
Dudley, in July 1946, and was a pupil at
Dudley Girls High School
Dudley Girls' High School was a selective higher education school which provided education for girls aged 11–18 years.
History
It was located in Dudley, England, and opened on 8 December 1910 near the town centre in Priory Road, 12 years aft ...
. She studied modern languages at the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
, where she dropped her Dudley accent in favour of
received pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geo ...
.
Career
She began her professional career as a trainee reporter on the ''
Western Mail'' and ''
South Wales Echo
The ''South Wales Echo'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area. It has a circulation of 7,573.
Background
The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House ...
'' between 1967 and 1970,
during which time she shared a house in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
with
Michael Buerk. She then moved to BBC Plymouth as a subeditor and
freelance reporter from 1970 until 1972.
In 1972, she worked as a sound recordist and then gained prominence as one of the reporters/presenters of
BBC TV
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
's news magazine ''
Nationwide''. She appeared on the show until 1975, when she was offered the main anchor role on the nightly news show ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
''.
In 1974, Lawley was part of the BBC's Election Team for the October General Election and in 1979, anchored the morning election results show the day after the General Election night broadcast. When Sir
Robin Day suffered a heart attack, Lawley sat in for him as the chair of the topical discussion programme ''
Question Time'' for several editions. In later years,
Fiona Bruce was credited with being the first woman to host ''Question Time'' and the first woman as part of the BBC's Election Night team, when in fact Lawley had performed both roles many years before Bruce.
Lawley left ''Tonight'' on
maternity leave in 1978, being replaced by
Valerie Singleton, and after her maternity leave, rejoined ''Nationwide'' as one of the two main anchors, alongside
Frank Bough. Lawley remained with the show until it came to a close in 1983.
During an interview with
the Carpenters on ''Nationwide'' in 1981 she surprised
Karen Carpenter by asking her directly about her
anorexia, an eating disorder which contributed to her death in February 1983.
After ''Nationwide'', Lawley became the anchor of the ''Nine O'Clock News'' bulletin on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
, and then moved to the newly launched ''Six O'Clock News'' in 1984. Lawley was praised after a broadcast on 23 May 1988, when the studio was invaded by protesters opposed to
Section 28: she continued to read the news whilst co-presenter
Nicholas Witchell restrained one of them.
Guest appearances and ''Desert Island Discs''
In 1981, she made a guest appearance in the ''
Yes Minister'' episode "
The Quality of Life", playing herself. Throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Lawley was the regular stand-in for
Terry Wogan on his BBC1 thrice-weekly chat show ''
Wogan
''Wogan'' is a British television talk show which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1992, presented by Terry Wogan. It was usually broadcast live from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, until 1991. It was then broadcast ...
''. From 1988 to 26 August 2006 Lawley was the presenter of ''
Desert Island Discs'' on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
.
Other work
In 1989, the
BBC launched Lawley in her own Saturday night talk show titled ''
Saturday Matters with Sue Lawley'', which was received badly by critics and was cancelled after one series. The very first guest interviewed was the then Duchess of York,
Sarah Ferguson. Lawley later left the BBC to work for
ITV, but did little work for them, other than an occasional series of high-profile interviews, which included British Prime Minister
John Major. She returned to
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
in 1993 to host the show ''Biteback''. Lawley was later part of
ITN's presenting team in its ''ITV Election 97'' coverage.
Lawley later introduced the BBC Radio 4 ''
Reith Lectures
The Reith Lectures is a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day. They are commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic cont ...
'' and was also a board member of the
English Tourism Council and
English National Opera. In a rare interview in 2019 for an edition of
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
's ''
The Reunion'', looking back at pioneering women newsreaders, Lawley, then 73, confirmed to host
Sue MacGregor that she is now fully retired and has no interest in any further broadcasting work.
Personal life
Lawley was first married in 1975 to David Ashby, a solicitor. Lawley's second marriage was in 1987, to Hugh Williams, a television executive.
She was awarded the
OBE in 2001.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawley, Sue
1946 births
Alumni of the University of Bristol
BBC newsreaders and journalists
English television talk show hosts
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at St James Academy, Dudley
People from Dudley
People from Sedgley