In the BBC’s long history, few women compare to Audrey Russell. Witty, levelheaded, and resilient, Russell became the corporation’s first female news reporter and the first woman ever to officially be given the title of war correspondent, paving the way for many more female journalists to come. Yet despite her lasting impact on the industry, she’d never planned for journalism to be her vocation.
Early Life
Audrey Russell was born in Dublin in 1906 to John Strangman Russell and Muriel Metcalfe. Her parents were wealthy and highly respected in society; her father was a mill owner and her mother’s relatives were close with Edward VIII. Her family’s status also meant that Audrey secured a high-quality education at a prestigious private school in Harrow, Greater London. After completing her schooling, Russell remained in London. Initially, she trained to be an actress, studying at the Central School For Speech and Drama for six months before working behind the scenes in theatre for several years.
However, the outbreak of WWII in 1939 disrupted her career plans. Soon, Russell was thrown into the heart of the action when on 7th September 1940, German planes began dropping bombs on the capital. The bombings continued for 57 consecutive days and were part of Hitler’s plans to dispel British morale. This period became known as the Blitz, a particularly gruesome part of the Second World War that resulted in the death of 43,000 Londoners. However, Hitler’s plan backfired; the bombings ultimately increased civilians’ support for the war effort. Audrey Russell was one of them. She gave up acting to join the London Fire Brigade, later known as the London Auxiliary Fire Service, with whom she put out fires and rescued those trapped in the rubble. But little did she know that this was where she’d meet her future employer.
Life During WWII
Whilst stationed on Manchester Square, Russell was interviewed by the BBC on the effects of the German air raids and was later asked to do a series about her experiences as part of the Fire Brigade. The BBC were so impressed by her account that in 1942, the corporation requested for Russell to be released from national service so that she could join the Radio Newsreel programme as a broadcast journalist. And so, with her extensive education, calm demeanour and soft Irish accent aiding her appointment, the interviewee became the interviewer. But was she discriminated against for being a woman? Certainly not during the war period. In her own words:
“There was no prejudice against women at the time,” she said. “I was a pair of hands and I think they were glad I was there despite the blunders I made. I just learnt on the job.”
As part of her assignments, she travelled across the country, interviewing ordinary people and business owners who had survived air raids. She focused on human stories, or ‘background material’ as she described it, but the work was often more grisly than not. Her reporting meant she came face-to-face with the horrors of war, from the bombing of Catford School “where all those children were blown to heaven”, to the near-misses of unexploded bombs:
“The famous [bomb] Herman began to tick when I was in the crater,” she said during an interview in the 1970s. “I beat a hasty retreat on that one I can assure you.”
Despite the harrowing subject matter and her chaotic schedule, Russell excelled at reporting and was soon sent abroad by the BBC after becoming the first accredited female war correspondent in 1944. Gramophone in hand, she travelled across Europe to countries such as Spain, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, and even Germany, broadcasting her findings back to the BBC. She reported on everything, from the Auxiliary Territorial Service, who were the first British female combatants to be sent overseas, to D-Day, which was one of the most pivotal moments of WWII. She battled mud, freezing winters and whooping cough to tell her stories. In an interview in the 1970s, Russell recalled that when a doctor recommended she take a break from reporting, she simply replied, “Don’t be silly.” It was only a bout of influenza in 1945 that saw her return to London, where she worked for the remainder of the war.
Her Postwar Legacy
Having fully left a career in the theatre behind her, Russell applied to be a journalist in the BBC’s news division when WWII was over. Whilst her application was successful, she began to face increasing hardships later on in her career.
We often assume that the world becomes progressively more inclusive for women as time goes on, but even recent modern events like Roe v Wade, the return of the Taliban and the Southport knife attack show that the state of women’s freedom throughout history can ebb and flow, for better or worse. After making great strides in women’s employment during the 1940s, it seemed that postwar Britain was reverting to its old prejudices. Russell felt the immediate effects of this. Having previously reported on some of the century’s most hard-hitting stories, during the post-war period, Russell was suddenly commissioned to discuss tedious topics like wedding dresses, flower arrangements and children’s nurseries (despite being single and childless). She had never shown any interest in pursuing such subjects, but the message it sent to her was clear: women cannot be taken seriously as reporters. She was thoroughly frustrated by this.
There was also the issue of the gender pay gap:
“I was very angry when on one occasion I discovered… that [a male colleague] was being paid £25 a week more than me and we were both doing exactly the same job, exactly the same weary miles and in fact I think my output was larger than his,” she recalled. “I resented that and I complained and well, I was very severely ticked off, but that didn’t bother me.”
To escape the mundanity that her job had become, Russell decided to remain at the BBC but worked on a freelance basis instead. Not only did this grant her more freedom in terms of what assignments she could take on, but her decision also prompted the BBC to offer her a place on the outside broadcasts team as a commentator. Russell soon fell in love with the thrill of live coverage, and she became the first woman to provide commentary on major events such as the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 and Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee in 1977. Even after going freelance, Russell fondly remembered her time at the BBC:
“I’ve always considered that I was very, very fortunate to have a career in the BBC,” she said. “I mean that absolutely sincerely because the BBC is really rather extraordinary as a place when you come to think of it, it has a charisma that hasn’t faded at all in spite of all [its] competitors.”
Outside of journalism, she adored oil painting and collecting art, and she eventually settled down in Woking, Surrey, where she remained until her death in 1989.
Audrey Russell’s commitment and determination throughout her career led her to become the voice of some of the most important moments in British history and opened the door for many more female journalists and commentators to come.
Even if her name has been lost to time, her legacy still lives on.
