The Right Honourable
The Baroness Boycott
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
9 July 2018
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Rosel Marie Boycott

(1951-05-13) 13 May 1951
Saint Helier, Jersey
Political partyCrossbench
Spouse(s)David Leitch
Charles Howard
EducationCheltenham Ladies' College; University of Kent
OccupationJournalist, editor

Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott, Baroness Boycott (born 13 May 1951) is a British journalist and feminist.

Early life

The daughter of Major Charles Boycott and Betty Le Sueur Boycott, Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott was born in Saint Helier, Jersey. She was privately educated at the independent Cheltenham Ladies' College and read mathematics at the University of Kent.

Journalism career

Boycott worked for a year or so with Frendz radical magazine[1] and in 1972, she co-founded the feminist magazine Spare Rib with Marsha Rowe. Later, both women became directors of Virago Press, a publisher committed to women's writing, with Carmen Callil, who had founded the company in 1973.

From 1992 to 1996, Boycott was editor of the UK edition of the men's magazine Esquire. From 1996 to 1998, she headed The Independent and its sister publication the Independent on Sunday.

Later, she edited the Daily Express (May 1998–January 2001), leaving soon after the newspaper was bought by Richard Desmond, who replaced her with Chris Williams.

Boycott is currently the travel editor for The Oldie magazine and hosts The Oldie Travel Awards each year.

Outside journalism

Boycott has presented the BBC Radio 4 programme A Good Read. She has sat on judging panels for literary awards, including chairing the panel responsible for choosing the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction. She is also a media advisor for the Council of Europe.[2] Boycott is a trustee of the Hay Festival in Wales and in Cartagena, Colombia. In March 2002, she denounced the New Labour government as "more reminiscent of a dictatorship than a free healthy democratic system",[3] and announced her support for the Liberal Democrats. She was rumoured to have considered becoming a Parliamentary candidate.

Boycott made several appearances on Newsnight Review and other cultural and current affairs programmes, where the fact that she is a recovering alcoholic was discussed. She started drinking heavily again after losing her job at the Express.[4] She was banned from driving for three years in September 2003 after crashing on the A303 in Wiltshire, injuring another driver. She was cut free from the wreckage. A court was told she had also been caught drunk driving the day before.[5] Since her accident, Boycott has been running a farm in Somerset.[6] She campaigned for Diana, Princess of Wales in the 2002 BBC programme to find the greatest Briton.

On 5 August 2008, Boycott was appointed as the chair of "London Food" as part of Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson's attempt to help improve Londoners' access to healthy, locally produced and affordable food. In September 2007, she appeared in the third series of Hell's Kitchen, and was the first contestant to be voted off. In June 2009, she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef. The same month she was one of five volunteers who took part in a BBC series of three programmes entitled Famous, Rich and Homeless, about living penniless on the streets of London.[7]

In June 2018, Boycott was nominated for a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[8] She was created Baroness Boycott, of Whitefield in the County of Somerset, on 9 July.[9]

Boycott is a supporter of the Women's Equality Party.[10]

Personal life

Boycott is married to Charles Howard KC.[11][12] Her first marriage was to journalist David Leitch (1937–2004).[13][14]

Publications

  • Batty Bloomers and Boycott: A Little Etymology of Eponymous Words, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1983, ISBN 0-911745-12-2
  • The Fastest Diet, London: Sphere Books, 1984. ISBN 0-7221-1960-7
  • A Nice Girl Like Me: A Story of the Seventies, Pavanne Books, 1988, ISBN 0-330-30103-9
  • All for Love, London: Fontana, 1989, ISBN 0-00-617698-4
  • Our Farm: A Year in the Life of a Smallholding, London: Bloomsbury, 2007, ISBN 0-7475-8897-X

References

  1. ↑ ibiblio: Friends magazine: Rosie Boycott
  2. ↑ "New Statesman – Full list of judges". Archived from the original on 18 December 2005.
  3. ↑ BBC News: "Mowlam turns up heat on Blair", 17 March 2002.
  4. ↑ Lacey, Josh (26 May 2007). "Here be monsters". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  5. ↑ Bird, Steve (4 September 2003). "Alcoholic ex-editor gets driving ban". The Times. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  6. ↑ Townsend, Mark (20 May 2007). "My rebirth as a latterday land girl". The Observer. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  7. ↑ Famous, Rich and Homeless, BBC Three, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Three new non-party-political peers".
  9. ↑ "No. 62351". The London Gazette. 13 July 2018. p. 12484.
  10. ↑ Catherine Mayer (host), Jo Brand (guest) and Rosie Boycott (guest) (3 April 2016). Jo Brand & Rosie Boycott @ 5×15 – Women's Equality Party (Video). 5×15 Stories via YouTube. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Bedell, Geraldine (24 August 2008). "The interview: Rosie Boycott". The Observer.
  12. ↑ "My week: Rosie Boycott". The Observer. 10 May 2009.
  13. ↑ Page, Bruce (29 November 2004). "David Leitch". The Independent.
  14. ↑ Hodgson, Godfrey (30 November 2004). "David Leitch". The Guardian.
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