HILDA MATHESON: A LIFE OF SECRETS AND BROADCASTS - HANDHELD BIOGRAPHIES

Carney, Michael; Murphy, Kate

ISBN 10: 1912766728 / ISBN 13: 9781912766727

Published by Handheld Classics, 2023

About this Item

This is a Brand-new US Edition. This Item may be shipped from US or any other country as we have multiple locations worldwide.

Seller Inventory # ABNR-191100

Bibliographic Details

• Title: HILDA MATHESON: A LIFE OF SECRETS AND BROADCASTS - HANDHELD BIOGRAPHIES
• Publisher: Handheld Classics
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912766728
• ISBN 13: 9781912766727
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Vita Sackville-West was infatuated with her. Virginia Woolf hated her. Sir John Reith resented her but couldn’t do without her skills: she transformed the BBC into a broadcaster for the people. Lady Astor was her close friend, making a way for her into the heart of Britain’s political, cultural and intellectual aristocracy. Hilda Matheson was one of the most important women behind the scenes in Britain’s public life between the wars and an influential networker between feminist, media and political powers. She packed more into her short life than most people would even think possible. Every challenge was accepted, and she lived her life to the full.

Hilda worked for MI6 in the First World War, then became Lady Astor’s political secretary, the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Poached by Sir John Reith, Hilda moved to the BBC to become the first Talks Director for the fledgling BBC, but Reith turned against her liberalising energies, and Hilda resigned rather than compromise her principles. Selected to lead a monumental survey of African economics and natural resources Hilda laid the groundwork for the move away from British colonialism. At the beginning of the Second World War she was put in charge of a new propaganda unit to tell Britain’s story to its allies and enemies alike through recordings, images and books. Having suffered all her life from Graves’ disease, which afflicted her with the phenomenal energy levels she needed to tackle the huge tasks in her career, Hilda died during a routine operation in 1940, aged 52.

The life of Hilda Matheson is told by her first biographer Michael Carney and by BBC producer Kate Murphy. This passionate, loving woman has finally been the given the memorial her energies and achievements deserve. Her letters to Vita Sackville-West and the Astor papers form the heart of her story, revealing her candid and devoted nature.

About the Authors

Michael Carney is from North Wales. He worked for thirty years in public industries in England, and published his first book, Britain in Pictures. A History and Bibliography, in 1995. His biography of Hilda Matheson, Stoker, was published in 1999. He has published several short stories and has broadcast on BBC radio.

Kate Murphy is a BBC producer and a visiting research fellow at the University of Bournemouth. She is the author of Behind the Wireless. A History of Early Women at the BBC (2016)