Getting Dressed –
Jenni Murray rules our airwaves – in her own style
At the BBC, they call Dame Jenni Murray, doyenne of Woman’s Hour and confidante to half the nation, Saint Jenni.
You can see why. There she is, every week, reassuring and sympathising in that soothing honey-voice that invites us to unburden our secret worries, whether they be about flatulence in old age or something much more serious. She is as British and dependable as… I would have said Big Ben if it hadn’t been under repair at the moment, but you get my drift.
Her office at the BBC is a minute cubbyhole. When I met her, it was strung with bunting, celebrating the fact that she has presented the programme for thirty years – since she was 37.
‘Retirement is a dirty word as far as I am concerned,’ she says, ‘I don’t know what I would do with myself every day...’
Murray has interviewed many thousands of women, from Hillary Clinton (‘I was very impressed’) to a Yazidi villager captured by Isis and sold as a sex slave. There isn’t anything she hasn’t heard – always with an agenda of promoting women’s rights and equality. Gains have been made, she says, but she warns we must continue to be vigilant.
‘Years ago, I read The Handmaid’s Tale and thought it a wonderfully clever book, but it was fiction. But now I realise that, in some places, it has become true.’
An only child, born in Barnsley to parents of the hatch/match/dispatch type of Christianity, she was confirmed, but abandoned her faith when she queued for communion behind a man with a cough.
‘Cough, cough, cough… I didn’t want to drink from the same cup; so I skipped communion. I told the vicar afterwards and he said, “I blessed the cup, so you couldn’t have caught an infection from it, and I thought, “How ridiculous!”, and that was it.’ Her mother mourned the fact that her daughter had inherited her father’s physique. ‘I wasn’t tall – about five foot seven – but I had big bones and at uni I went from 9½ stone to 11½.’ The doctor gave her some pills and her weight tumbled so dramatically her tutor became concerned, looked at the pills and realised they were amphetamines. ‘I swore I would never diet again, but of course I ended up trying every diet in the book – then my weight went up again when I had my two babies.’ Her first son was born when she worked for regional TV and the second when presenting Today. She relied on a nanny until her husband, David, an engineer, decided to become a househusband – ‘It worked beautifully.’ Woman’s Hour moved from an afternoon slot to a morning one about ten years after Murray joined. This meant she had to rise at 5.30 in the morning and it caused another weight gain. ‘Shift workers with early starts tend to eat an extra meal because their eating pattern gets out of sync.’ In 2006, Murray was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy which made all her hair fall out.
‘That is a traumatic thing for anyone.’ It grew back iron grey; so almost the first thing she did on recovery was to have it dyed brown again. Hip problems followed, possibly caused by the chemo. Her weight continued to increase until, in 2014, she decided to have a gastric sleeve.
‘I was worried about my mobility and I was worried about the increasing chance of getting Type 2 diabetes and my GP asked if I had considered gastric surgery.’
Murray consulted Professor Francisco Rudino, who is pioneering the use of gastric surgery to combat diabetes. She had the operation three years ago and has lost a ‘significant’ amount of weight.
She has been touring literary festivals promoting her latest book, A History of Britain in 21 Women. Mary Quant is among her heroines because of the fashion revolution she created – even Murray, a teenager in Barnsley, bought a miniskirt and boots in the local market.
These days, she happily wears the same thing every day, ‘Like a school uniform’: a black tunic top (from Dawn French’s clothing company, Sixteen47; Marks & Spencer leggings; and comfy shoes from Skechers. Over her shoulder goes a scarf – ‘for colour’. She uses skincare products by YSL (Top Secrets Toning and Cleansing Water, and expensive Or Rouge Crème). Make-up is Chanel.
Murray can’t wear ‘noisy jewellery’ because the microphone is inches from her face. I wondered about the long bead chain that holds her specs and is her trademark accessory – but apparently it doesn’t make a sound.