Liz Hodgkinson

Liz Hodgkinson (born 1945) is an author and journalist who has written more than 50 books. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages. She has also written articles for most of the major British national newspapers in London, and for magazines for women. She has taught journalism for a decade.

Early life

Hodgkinson was born Elizabeth Garrett, and grew up, in the small Cambridgeshire town of St Neots.

She attended Huntingdon Grammar School, which was co-educational and which is now named Hinchingbrooke School. At the school, she became a close friend of Amaryllis Garnett and was influenced by the bohemian household of David and Angelica Garnett. She has written that her parents would have been happy enough for her to leave school at 16 and train as a secretary. "They had no idea of higher education or careers." However, she wanted more from a career, so she attended Durham University where she studied English. Hodgkinson has written that her period at university was dominated by an obsession she developed for a male student, which began at first sight and was to overshadow her subsequent relationships.

Career

After a short stint teaching, Hodgkinson became a freelance reporter and columnist. At first, in the years 1966–1970, she worked in Newcastle upon Tyne in north-east England, on the Thomson Newspapers the '' Evening Chronicle'', the '' Newcastle Journal'', and the ''Sunday Sun''.

During these years she married Neville Hodgkinson, also a journalist, who would also become a '' Daily Mail'' science and medical columnist and author of books. The couple's sons, Tom and Will, have both became journalists and authors like their parents.

The family moved to London, to a house in Richmond, and (like her husband) Hodgkinson gained a series of jobs in Fleet Street. In 1971–1972, Hodgkinson was Deputy Editor of the mother and baby magazine ''Modern Mother'' (long since closed), and then in 1972–1973 she worked as a columnist on the '' London Evening News''. She then worked on four national newspapers: the '' Sunday People'', '' The Sun'', the '' Daily Mail'', and ''The Times'', where she was Women's Editor for a period during 1986. After that, in 1986 she became a freelance journalist, writing for ''The Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Independent'', and the London ''Evening Standard'', and again for the ''Daily Mail.''

Using her experience as a journalist, Hodgkinson taught beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes in journalism at City Literary Institute for 10 years (1995–2005). One of her books, ''Ladies of the Street'', was about the women who transformed journalism in Britain, from the heart of London in Fleet Street, from the late 19th century to the present day.

Hodgkinson's books are mostly devoted to four main subject areas, over time: first health; then lifestyle, including topics around religion and special ways of life (influenced by her by then ex-husband Neville's involvement with Indian religion); then biography, particularly of some individuals with changing sexuality; and latterly, as a complete change, real estate and property matters.

She continues to contribute to publications and websites, including the ''Daily Mail''’s Femail pages, ''The Daily Telegraph'', and the magazines ''House Beautiful'', ''The Lady'', and ''Woman''.

Later life

In the 1981, Hodgkinson's husband Neville became involved with the Brahma Kumaris

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