Joan Bakewell

Joan Bakewell is the author several books including her autobiographies The Centre of the Bed and The View from Here: Life at Seventy, and Belief. Since her emergence on television in the 1960s, she has become one of the most respected presenters and commentators in British television, radio and print, highly regarded for her clear and calm take on social, cultural and political issues.

Joan Bakewell: If I feel like having a cigarette, why shouldn't I?

I am going to start stockpiling cigarettes. I feel the need to have a small cache hidden around the house. I shall distribute them in out-of-the-way places in different rooms. I don't think it's appropriate to start putting them under the floorboards just yet. But the time may come... By the way, I'm a non-smoker!

Recently by Joan Bakewell

Joan Bakewell: I granted Mary Whitehouse the freedom to protest

Friday, 30 May 2008

I was one of the last to be threatened with prosecution. It was over a gay poem over which Mary Whitehouse successfully prosecuted in 1977 and which I quoted from in my 2001 BBC2 series Taboo. You can't talk about the history of taboos without... er... quoting examples.

Joan Bakewell: Science or literature? Surely what we need is both

Friday, 23 May 2008

It was surprising to find science carrying the day. Especially in such a literary place as Charleston, the home of Vanessa Bell, once the setting of Bloomsbury shenanigans and now home to one of the summer's finest literary festivals.

Joan Bakewell: No wonder the toffs are back with a vengeance

Friday, 16 May 2008

Bling is back and I'm glad to be one of the blingers. My personal favourite among jewellers is Argenta: those people with a stall on many a railway station and rows and rows of neat, trim and cheap earrings. I am a regular patron. It's so handy when you set out in a hurry and forget. Stop off at their stall and for £5 you go away with ears properly dressed for whatever meeting you hope to impress. Back home, they join other Argenta pairs holding their own among swinging ethnics and flashy sparklers from more rarefied retailers. I hope they do a roaring trade in Northampton, recently declared the bling capital of Britain.

Joan Bakewell: Giant white horses and the dangers of 'plop' art

Friday, 9 May 2008

An irresistible chance is now ours to renew the debate about public art. With the unveiling this week of plans for the Ebbsfleet Landmark, people must already be polishing their preferences.

Joan Bakewell: For women around the world, life is getting worse

Friday, 2 May 2008

Iran's Chief prosecutor doesn't like Barbie. I don't like Barbie either. There we are at one. But that's about it. From there on we diverge so broadly on the subject of women there seems no point in talking of bridging the gulf. The gulf gapes so wide it seems there are not two sides but two worlds. And they are finding it increasingly difficult to inhabit the same planet.

Joan Bakewell: The silent victims of the technology revolution

Friday, 25 April 2008

I do well by the railways of this country. I travel off peak, have a senior railcard and have the kind of life that allows me to book in advance. I have sometimes had such cheap ticket deals that I fully expected to be arrested by the ticket inspector for trying to cheat the system. No serious complaints there, then. But minor criticism, yes.

Joan Bakewell: Please don't spoil my relationship with vitamins

Friday, 18 April 2008

I am one of the 12 million. I am one of those who each morning, line up a row of assorted tablets to supplement my diet. I even have one of those dinky little boxes with a compartment for each day's dose: it goes with me wherever I go, pops up on hotel breakfast tables, at railway buffets and at the homes of startled friends with whom I am spending the weekend. I explain I am trying to do myself a favour by staying fit as I get older. They can now flourish threatening headlines in my face and tell me I may be shortening my life. You just can't win.

Joan Bakewell: Abu Qatada's leave to stay is a human right too far

Friday, 11 April 2008

It is the reason why they come here, of course. People of evil intent who propagate pernicious doctrines of hate and issue videos and calls for violent action are aware that our legal system offers them as good a chance of fair treatment as they will get anywhere in the world.

Joan Bakewell: Why can't the Speaker's wife use a bus pass?

Friday, 4 April 2008

The Freedom of Information Act makes nosey parkers of us all. That, plus the activities of the TaxPayers' Alliance, offers us gossip and innuendo to match anything in Heat magazine. What is more, we have a stake in the whole, gorgeous story of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin's expenses. For a start, aren't we ourselves paying for this grotesque charade? And second, don't we identify in some small way with the squirming guilt of the named parties.

Joan Bakewell: Macmillan could afford to be optimistic in his day

Friday, 28 March 2008

Harold Macmillan is with us again, stalking the stage of the National Theatre in the totally convincing person of Jeremy Irons... the same long, lean gait, the bristling moustache, the body language displaying breeding and charm.

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