Dedication	6
	Acknowledgements	8
	Contents	10
	List of Abbreviations	14
	Chapter 1: Introduction	15
	1.1 Reconstructing BBC Women’s Lives	22
	1.2 Notes	26
	Photographs	26
	BBC Terminology	27
	Money and Earnings	27
	Chapter 2: ‘Growing Like a Young Giant’: The BBC as a Place to Work	28
	2.1 From Magnet House to Broadcasting House	31
	2.2 BBC Hierarchies	36
	2.3 Being Waged, Being Salaried	39
	2.4 Being Younger, Being Older	43
	2.5 High Heels, Low Heels	46
	2.6 Perks, Clubs and Associations	50
	2.7 John Reith and BBC Women	54
	2.8 Conclusion	58
	Chapter 3: ‘Women Who Oil the Wheels’: Waged Women at the BBC	60
	3.1 Getting an Office Job at the BBC	64
	3.2 The Women’s Staff Administrator	66
	3.3 The General Office	71
	3.4 The BBC ‘Secretary’	73
	3.5 The Telephone Exchange and  Duplicating Office	78
	3.6 The BBC Clerk	81
	3.7 Women House Staff	83
	3.8 Promotion to the Salaried Grades	87
	3.9 Conclusion	92
	Chapter 4: ‘Only an Exceptional Woman’: Married Women at the BBC	95
	4.1 The Marriage Bar in Interwar Britain	96
	4.2 Married Women at the BBC: Before the Bar	100
	4.3 Married Women at the BBC: A Change in Attitude	103
	4.4 Married Women at the BBC: The Introduction of the Marriage Bar	108
	4.5 The BBC Marriage Tribunal	110
	4.6 Married Women at the BBC Post-1932	117
	4.7 The Abolition of the BBC Marriage Bar	119
	4.8 Conclusion	125
	Chapter 5: ‘New and Important Careers’: Salaried Women at the BBC	127
	5.1 Being Salaried at the BBC	131
	Librarian	135
	Accompanist	138
	Children’s Hour Organiser	140
	Advertising Representative	142
	Drama Producer	144
	School Broadcaster	147
	Assistant Editor	149
	Social Documentary Maker	151
	5.2 ‘On the same footing as men?’ Recruitment, Mobility and Pay	153
	Inequality in Recruitment	154
	Inequality in Promotion	156
	Inequality in Pay	157
	The Case of Mary Candler	160
	5.3 Conclusion	162
	Chapter 6: ‘Women Who Rule at the BBC’: Four Elite Women	164
	6.1 Being Elite at the BBC	167
	6.2 Mary Somerville (1897–1963)	170
	6.3 Hilda Matheson (1888–1940)	179
	6.4 Isa Benzie (1902–1988)	186
	6.5 Mary Adams (1898–1984)	192
	6.6 Conclusion	198
	Chapter 7: ‘When They Have Their Cup of Tea’: Making Programmes for Women	200
	7.1 Being a Talks Assistant at the BBC	202
	7.2 Ella Fitzgerald, ‘Women’s Hour’	206
	7.3 Elise Sprott and Hilda Matheson, ‘Household Talks’/‘Morning Talks’	211
	7.4 Margery Wace, ‘At Home Today’	218
	7.5 Janet Quigley, ‘Tea Time Talks’	224
	7.6 Conclusion	228
	Chapter 8: ‘You Feel Their Personal Touch’: Women Broadcasters	231
	8.1 Being a Woman Broadcaster on the BBC	233
	8.2 Marion Cran, Celebrity Gardener	237
	8.3 Ray Strachey, Daytime All-Rounder	240
	8.4 Beatrice Webb, Evening Grandee	243
	8.5 Mrs Edna Thorpe, ‘Ordinary’, ‘Average’ Housewife	246
	8.6 ‘Men Talking’ and ‘The Woman’s Point of View’	248
	8.7 Women Announcers, the Sheila Borrett Experiment	251
	8.8 Women Commentators, the Triumph of Olga Collett	255
	8.9 Conclusion	259
	Chapter 9: Conclusion	261
	Epilogue: A Brief Encounter with 90 Further Years	267
	Appendix 1	277
	Grades and Wage Bands: Weekly Paid Staff	277
	Appendix 2	278
	Grades and Salary Bands: Salaried Staff	278
	Appendix 3	280
	Women Who Earned £500 or more per Annum (1939)	280
	Bibliography	282
	Books	282
	Book Chapters, Journal Articles, Thesis, Unpublished memoirs	288
	Index	290