Background
Joan Bakewell was born in Stockport and grew up in Hazel Grove, Cheshire. She was educated at Stockport High School for Girls and Newnham College Cambridge, where she graduated with a Part 1 degree in Economics and Part 11 in History. She has lived in London since 1954.
Joan was made a CBE in 1999 and Dame in 2008. In January 2011 she took her seat in the House of Lords as Baroness Bakewell of Stockport.
Early Career
1954-56 – Studio Manager with BBC Radio
1957-59 – Advertising copywriter with McCann Erickson, then Hobson Bates and later David Williams Ltd
1962 – First television broadcast as contributor to BBC TV’s Table Talk
Early 1960s
• Presenter ATV’s Sunday Break (for ITV)
• Home at 4.30 for Southern Television
• The Second Sex for BBC TV
• Meeting Point for BBC TV
1965-1972 – Late Night Line Up: one of four presenter/interviewers for BBC 2’s nightly programme
Also celebrity interviews at the National Film Theatre: Bette David, Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Bert Lancaster
1970s – For BBC TV:
• Where is your God?
• Who Cares?
• The Affirmative Way
• and Holiday Programmes (1974 – 1978)
For GRANADA TV: four series of Reports Action
1979-1981 – Presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM
Journalism
1970s
• Column in The Manchester Evening News
• Television critic for Punch
• Television reviewer for The Times
• Profile writer for The London Illustrated London News
1987-1990 – Columnist for The Sunday Times
2003-2005 – Columnist for The Guardian
2006-2008 – Columnist for The Independent
2008-2010 – Columnist for The Times
2011- present – Columnist for the Daily Telegraph
BBC Television
1981-1987 – BBC Television Arts Correspondent
1982-1984 – Founder and First President of the Society of Arts Publicists
1984 – Founder of the National Campaign for the Arts
1990 – Winner of the BP Arts Council Arts Journalism Award
1987-2000 – BBC 1’s Heart of the Matter (the series won several BMA Medicine in the Media Awards)
1994
• The Richard Dimbleby BAFTA Award for Television Journalism
• The BMA Charles Fletcher Award
1989 – Chairman of Classical City Radio – major contender for London’s classic music channel
2000
• Contributions to One Foot in the Past, Correspondent and other on-going series
• My Generation: writer/presenter 3 part series for BBC2
2001 – Taboo: writer and presenter 3 part Series for BBC2
2011 – Panorama for BBC 1: Social care
2012 – Panorama for BBC 1: Older Drinking
2013 – Panorama for BBC 1: Litter
2017 – Panorama for BBC 1: Life at 100
Sky Arts
2013 – Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
2014 – Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
2015 – Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
2016 – Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
2017 – Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year
Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year
BBC Radio
1999-2000 – Presenter of BBC Radio3’s Artist of the Week
1999-2001 – Chair of BBC Radio 3’s The Brains Trust
2001-2014 – Presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Belief series
2011-2012 – Classic FM series
2009-2016 – Presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Inside the Ethics Committee
2017 – present – BBC Radio 4: We need to talk about Death
Radio Plays (author)
• There and Back
• Parish Magazine Part 1 – 1984
• Parish Magazine Part 2 – 1987
• Parish Magazine Part 3 – 1988
• Brought to Book – 2005
• Keeping in Touch: Radio 4, 2017
Publications
1970s – Numerous short stories: womens’ magazines, Punch etc
1970
• The New Priesthood (with Prof Nick Garnham)
• A Fine and Private Place (with John Drummond)
1977 – The Complete Traveller
2003 – The Centre of the Bed (autobiography)
2005 – Belief
2006 – The View from Here
2009 – All the Nice girls (novel)
2011 – She’s leaving home (novel)
2016 – Stop the Clocks
Joan has served on:
1984-1999 – The Council of the Aldeburgh Festival
1994-2003 – The Council of the Friends of the Tate Gallery
1998 -2003 – Board of the Royal National Theatre
1994-2002 – Governor of the BFI
2000-2002 – Chair of the BFI
2004-2011 – Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts
2007-2012 – Chair of the theatre company Shared Experience.
2013 -2015 – The Communications Committee of the House of Lords
2016 – Arts Advisory Panel of the House of Lords
2017 – House of Lords Select Committee on AI
2017- present – Joint Chair of the Humanist APPG
Honorary Degrees
• Sterling University (Dept of Film and Media)
• Queen Margaret’s University Edinburgh – 2005
• Royal Holloway, University of London
• Chester University – 2007
• University of the Arts – 2008
• Staffordshire University – 2009
• Lancaster University – 2010
• Newcastle University – 2011
• The Open University – 2010
• Essex University – 2011
• Manchester Metropolitan University – 2013
Presentation: Life at 100
In October 2017 Joan Bakewell presented a Panorama Special, which followed seven people who have reached 100 years or more.
There are around 14,500 centenarians in the UK, many of whom value their independence and still want to live at home. With this number likely to double every 10 years, this presentation will look at the help and care required from the Government and local authorities – with a particular focus on their transport needs – to enable as many people as possible to live an active and independent life as they approach and pass 100 years of age.