Jenni quits Woman’s Hour after clocking up 33 years
DAME Jenni Murray has quit BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour after more than three decades on the programme.
The veteran broadcaster, 70, announced her decision yesterday, saying it was “time to move on”.
Yesterday Dame Jenni said: “I’ve spent nearly half my life with Woman’s Hour and it’s been a privilege and delight to inform, educate and entertain a loyal and growing audience of women and men. Saying goodbye will be very hard to do, but it’s time to move on.”
Her final programme will be on October 1.
The Barnsley-born broadcaster is the longest serving presenter in Woman’s Hour’s 74-year history.
Her decision to quit after 33 years on the mid-morning show follows her dramatic weight loss in which she shed 10 stone thanks to gastric surgery, taking her from a size 24 to a size 14.
Her new book, called Fat Cow, Fat Chance: The Science And Psychology Of Size, is her attempt to understand how “a highly intelligent, extremely well-educated woman” became morbidly obese.
Struggle
In it she talks about her lifelong struggle with her weight and discusses fat-shaming and body positivity.
BBC director general Tony Hall paid warm tribute to Dame Jenni, saying: “The radio airwaves won’t be the same without her.”
He added: “Jenni Murray is a remarkable broadcaster and few have matched her outstanding contribution to the BBC and our audience.
“For more than three decades, Jenni has been an unmistakable and warm voice that has interviewed many of the most well-known women in the world, and helped illuminate issues that matter.”
During her decades on the daily magazine programme, Dame Jenni’s high-profile interviewees have included Bette Davis, Margaret Thatcher, Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton, Kate McCann, Benazir
Bhutto and Dame Judi Dench. Dame Jenni joined BBC Radio Bristol in 1973 and went on to report and present for BBC TV’s South Today.
In 1983, she joined Newsnight, before moving to Radio 4 as a presenter for the Today programme.
She became the regular presenter of Woman’s Hour in 1987 and in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 1999 she was awarded an OBE for radio broadcasting. She was made a dame in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to broadcasting.
Mohit Bakaya, controller of Radio 4, said: “Jenni is one of the most loved voices on Radio 4.
“She has tackled important issues on behalf of listeners, opening up sometimes difficult conversations about the experiences of women and shining a light on subjects that have often been sadly neglected. I want to thank her for her wonderful commitment to Woman’s Hour, to Radio 4 in general, and for the passion she has shown for the topics explored during her time on the programme. I wish her the very best with her plans for the future.”
The BBC said her replacement on the show, which has Jane Garvey as its other regular presenter and Emma Barnett in an occasional role, will be announced in due course.