Nancy Banks-Smith
British television and radio critic (born 1929)
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Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for The Guardian.
Nancy Banks-Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1929 (age 96–97) Manchester, England |
| Education | Roedean School |
| Occupations | Television and radio critic |
| Notable credit | The Guardian |
Life and career
Born in Manchester and raised in a pub,[1] she was educated at Roedean School.
Banks-Smith began her career in journalism in 1951 as a reporter at the Northern Daily Telegraph. In 1955, after a brief period at the women's section of the Sunday Mirror, she moved to the Daily Herald as a reporter. She worked for the Daily Express from 1960 to 1965 as a feature writer, moving to be a TV critic for The Sun in 1965. She left the newspaper in 1969 when it was bought by Rupert Murdoch.[2]
Banks-Smith began writing for The Guardian in 1970, with her television column becoming a leading feature of the newspaper. She remained with the paper for more than 50 years,[3] though by 2010 she no longer wrote daily reviews.[2] Until 2017, she wrote a monthly column for the paper entitled "A month in Ambridge", reviewing recent developments in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers.
Awards
In 1970, she was recommended for the Order of the British Empire (OBE), which she declined.[4]
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