Joan Bakewell

CBE, DBE, MA (Cantab), Hon FBA (NC 1951)

College roles

Honorary Fellow (2016)

Biography

Joan Bakewell became nationally known as one of the strongest women’s voices of her generation at the BBC, from the 1960s to the present. She has presented arts coverage on Newsnight, was the chief presenter of the documentary series Heart of the Matter, has presented series on pornography and civil rights, and has long been regarded as a liberal intellectual contributor to national conversations.

She has been recognised by the awards of CBE (1999), DBE (2008), became a Baroness in 2011, has chaired the British Film Institute, and in 2008 was appointed by the government to be a voice for older people.

Joan Bakewell continues to be active as an author and a journalist, writing columns on the experience of old age, on the role of older women in the media, and other topics of current interest in, by turns, the Guardian, the Times and the Independent.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday (14 February 2014), she answered the question ‘What event that altered the course of your life and character?’ as follows: ‘Gaining a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge in 1951. I owe it everything.’

She is Member of the House of Lords and President of Birkbeck, London University.