Marjorie Anderson (7 November 1913 – 14 December 1999) was a British actress and leading

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

broadcaster for over thirty years, including on the programme ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' from 1958 to 1972.

Early life

Marjorie Enid Anderson was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London. Her father Harold Anderson was a naval intelligence officer, who died in Belgium just after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when Marjorie was a little girl; she was raised by her mother, Charlotte Augusta Boyle Anderson, a property dealer. Anderson attended school at Felixstowe College in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and trained as a reader at the Central School of Speech Training in London. She earned a diploma from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in diction and drama.

Career

Anderson began her career as an actress, appearing in T. S. Eliot's ''

Murder in the Cathedral ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935, that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writin ...

'' on the West End and in a 1938 touring company in the United States. She also taught voice classes, and worked with children who had speech defects. From 1940 to 1945, during

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 opposin ...

, Anderson presented ''Thank You for your Letters'' and ''Forces Favourites'' on the

BBC Forces Programme The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944. History Development Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional ra ...

and

BBC General Forces Programme The BBC General Forces Programme was a national radio station operating from 27 February 1944 until 31 December 1946. History Development Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC closed both existing National and Regio ...

s. She also presented the latter programme's peacetime successor, ''Family Favourites'', on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

. Her "disciplined, upbeat manner" was considered helpful to wartime and postwar morale. Between 1955 and 1968 Anderson presented ''Home for the Day'' on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

. She was a presenter of ''Woman's Hour'' from 1958 until her retirement in 1973. Anderson had

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

which, as it progressed, affected her speech and thus her radio career, prompting her retirement. Anderson's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in the

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...

's Hall of Fame. She was appointed MBE in the 1974 Birthday Honours.

Personal life

Marjorie Anderson married advertising executive Anthony Sykes in 1947. They had a son, Jeremy, born in 1948. She was widowed when Sykes died in 1961. She died in 1999, aged 86 years, in Kensington.

References

External links

"Thank you for your letters, Marjorie Anderson"
a 1945 newsreel clip from

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Marjorie 1913 births 1999 deaths BBC people British radio personalities Members of the Order of the British Empire British women in World War II Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Woman's Hour