Jenni Murray bids farewell to Woman’s Hour with fond memories of Barnsley

Dame Jenni Murray, who once recalled sitting on the pouffe at home in Barnsley listening to Woman’s Hour in its earliest incarnation, chose extracts from interviews she had conducted with Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton for her final broadcast – though she said her encounter with the singer Joan Baez was more memorable than either. There were “many, many different stereotypes that fit our gender, so there is no one stereotypical woman, but our sex, we share”, she concluded.

During her 33 years in the presenter’s chair, her guests also included Bette Davis, Barbara Castle, Shirley Williams, Gloria Steinem, Monica Lewinsky and Dame Judi Dench.

But it was Baez’ studio rendition of Diamonds and Rust that left her “sobbing inside because she was so wonderful”, she said.

The BBC announced last month that Emma Barnett would take over the programme from January, and that Jane Garvey, who has been on the presenters’ rota for 13 years, would also depart.

“Anyone who writes off Woman’s Hour does so at their peril, because we roll on,” Ms Garvey said at the time.

But her colleague, who turned 70 in May, avoided any hint of controversy as she bade her farewells, comforted by the gift of a chocolate cake from Mary Berry.

“Goodbye from me and thank you all for listening and being such a vital part of the Woman’s Hour family,” Dame Jenni said, before thanking the “three men in her family” who had given her “endless support”, and playing out with the signature song by Helen Reddy, who died earlier this week.

Asked how it felt to be leaving after so long a tenure, she said it was “just very, very strange” before adding the studio managers had put a blue plaque on her chair to remember her by.

A former regional TV presenter who arrived at Woman’s Hour via local radio, Newsnight and the Today programme after graduating from Hull University in French and Drama, she said she had never forgotten her Yorkshire roots.

“When you grow up in a place like Barnsley and you are quite poor and when your mother is the receptionist at the Town Hall and everyone knows your business, when you are younger you cannot wait to get out,” she told The Yorkshire Post three years ago. But upon revisiting her home town she said its “warmth and character” had “made me the broadcaster I am. I’m a Yorkshire woman and proud of it”.

The author of several books about women’s history, she was made a dame in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to broadcasting. The veteran broadcaster Charles Wheeler said she had “the most beautiful voice on radio, ever”.

The First presenter of Woman’s Hour in October 1946 was Alan Ivimey, and in the tradition of the pre-war BBC, guests were entertained to lunch before each broadcast.

Since then, the hosts have been female, with Jean Metcalfe, Judith Chalmers and Sue MacGregor amongst the longest serving – though none beating the 33 years of Dame Jenni Murray. In the 1950s, Violet Carson, later Coronation Street’s Ena Sharples, was on the roster of presenters.

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Thank you, James Mitchinson