Hold the Front Page: West Berkshire author's Fleet Street pioneer mother
Listen to Aldworth resident Clare Hastings on BBC 4 Women's Hour
The launch of Aldworth resident Clare Hasting's book Hold The Front Page!: The Wit and Wisdom of Anne Scott-James that was planned for May 6 at the Village Hall may have been cancelled due to Covid-19, but the book on the Fleet Street pioneer will still be published as planned if anyone would like to buy it and a new event to celebrate with the author will be arranged later in the year.
For those wishing for a taster, Clare will be talking on BBC Radio 4’s Woman's Hour tomorrow (Friday, April 3).
A former Aldworth villager, Anne lived next door to her daughter Clare and her son Max Hastings would often pop over to strim the grass bank to her beautiful cottage garden. Anne divided her time between her cottage in Aldworth and London.
She started her career working for Vogue, she went on to become the first woman’s editor on Picture Post, before leaving to set up her own page on the Daily Express in 1954.
Clare’s book about her mother is a candid behind-the-scenes look at the first woman of Fleet Street.
‘The Anne Scott-James Page’ set the bar for a new way of writing. She perfected the art of the short, sharp column – and many of the topics she covered are equally on-trend today. The column was filled with her views on men, children, fashion, beauty, food, interiors, travel, and anything else that took her fancy. Political views might be squashed between a piece on eyebrow tweezing and an opinion on swimsuit lines. Anne was a great believer in entertaining her readers. She wrote with a mixture of intelligence, wit and style – and sheer funniness. In Hold the Front Page!, a selection of Scott-James’ Sunday Express columns from 1953 to 1957 is brought together with a commentary by her daughter, writer Clare Hastings, to provide a fascinating insight into the 1950s – and into the public and private life of the first female star of London’s Fleet Street.' Amazon
Published by Pimpernel Press, Hold The Front Page!: The Wit and Wisdom of Anne Scott-James is available from Amazon in hardback on March 31, priced £14.99.
