Rosie Boycott, Baroness Boycott

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Boycott
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage
9 July 2018
Personal details
BornRosel Marie Boycott
(1951-05-13) 13 May 1951
Saint Helier, Jersey
PartyCrossbench
Spouse(s)David Leitch
Charles Howard
EducationCheltenham Ladies' College; University of Kent
OccupationJournalist, editor

Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott, Baroness Boycott (born 13 May 1951) is a British journalist and feminist. She was a co-founder of the feminist magazine Spare Rib and publisher Virago Press. She edited men's magazine Esquire and newspapers The Independent and Daily Express. She is also known for her books, appearances on Newsnight Review and participation in Celebrity MasterChef.

Early life

The daughter of Major Charles Boycott and Betty Le Sueur Boycott, Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott was born on 13 May 1951 in Saint Helier, Jersey. She was privately educated at the independent Cheltenham Ladies' College and read mathematics at the University of Kent, but dropped out of the course to work in the underground press scene.[1][2]

Journalism career

Boycott worked for a year or so with Frendz radical magazine[3] and in 1972, she co-founded the feminist monthly magazine Spare Rib with Marsha Rowe.[4][5][6] The 20,000 print run of the first two issues sold out, helped by the publicity received from the refusal of W. H. Smith to stock it.[7] Boycott and Rowe, however, had significant differences and the formation of a collective to run the magazine, at Rowe's suggestion, led to Boycott being marginalised, and she resigned not much more than a year later after the launch.[7][8] Later, both women became directors of Virago Press, a publisher committed to women's writing, with Carmen Callil, who had founded the company in 1973.[9][10][11]

From 1992 to 1996, Boycott was editor of the UK edition of the men's magazine Esquire, where she almost doubled its circulation.[1][2] From 1996 to 1998, she headed The Independent and its sister publication the Independent on Sunday, becoming the first woman in history to edit a broadsheet newspaper.[12][2]

Boycott edited the Daily Express from May 1998 to January 2001, leaving soon after the newspaper was bought by Richard Desmond,[13] who replaced her with OK! magazine publisher Chris Williams.[2]

In 2013, Boycott joined Charlotte Raven's campaign to relaunch Spare Rib as an online magazine, as it had ceased publication in 1993.[14][15]

Boycott is currently the travel editor for The Oldie magazine and hosts The Oldie Travel Awards each year.

Outside journalism

In 1973, Boycott was jailed in Thailand for 18 days for smuggling cannabis.[2] In 1981 she checked herself into a clinic, writing about the experience in her autobiography A Nice Girl Like Me (1984).[16] While working at The Independent, she started a campaign to legalise cannabis and was nicknamed "Rizla Rosie."[2][17]

Boycott has presented the BBC Radio 4 programme A Good Read. She has sat on judging panels for literary awards, including chairing the panel responsible for choosing the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction. She is also a media advisor for the Council of Europe.[18] Boycott is a trustee of the Hay Festival in Wales and in Cartagena, Colombia.

In March 2002, she denounced the New Labour government as "more reminiscent of a dictatorship than a free healthy democratic system",[19] and announced her support for the Liberal Democrats. She was rumoured to have considered becoming a Parliamentary candidate. She campaigned for Diana, Princess of Wales in the 2002 BBC programme to find the greatest Briton.

Boycott made several appearances on Newsnight Review and other cultural and current affairs programmes, where the fact that she is a recovering alcoholic was discussed. She started drinking heavily again after losing her job at the Express.[20] She was banned from driving for three years in September 2003 after crashing on the A303 in Wiltshire, injuring another driver. She was cut free from the wreckage. A court was told she had also been caught drunk driving the day before.[21] After her accident, Boycott has been running a farm in Somerset.[22]

On 5 August 2008, Boycott was appointed as the chair of "London Food" as part of Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson's attempt to help improve Londoners' access to healthy, locally produced and affordable food.[1]

In September 2007, she appeared in the third series of Hell's Kitchen, and was the first contestant to be voted off. In June 2009, she appeared on Celebrity MasterChef. The same month she was one of five volunteers who took part in a BBC series of three programmes entitled Famous, Rich and Homeless, about living penniless on the streets of London.[23] Boycott has also appeared on The Weakest Link quiz show.[24]

In June 2018, Boycott was nominated for a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[25] She was created Baroness Boycott, of Whitefield in the County of Somerset, on 9 July.[26]

In 2022, Boycott began a patron of The Vavengers women's and girls charity.[27]

In January 2023, Boycott was awarded an honorary degree by Keele University "for contributions to journalism and social causes."[28]

Boycott was a supporter of the Women's Equality Party.[29]

Personal life

Boycott is married to Charles Howard KC.[30][31] Her first marriage was to journalist David Leitch (1937–2004).[32][33]

Publications

References

  1. Rigby, Rhymer (2016). "At Work with the FT: Rosie Boycott, London Food, chair". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  2. "Boycott's climb to the top". BBC News. 25 January 2001. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  3. ibiblio: Friends magazine: Rosie Boycott
  4. Jordan, Justine (11 June 2018). "How we made: Spare Rib magazine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  5. "Feminist Publications". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  6. Banyard, Kat (2010). The Equality Illusion: The Truth about Women and Men Today. Faber & Faber. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-571-24626-7.
  7. Smith, Angela (7 September 2017). Re-reading Spare Rib. Springer. pp. 14–16. ISBN 978-3-319-49310-7.
  8. "Spare Rib and the underground press". The British Library. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2026.
  9. Simons, Judy; Fullbrook, Kate (1998). Writing, a Woman's Business: Women, Writing and the Marketplace. Manchester University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-7190-5280-4.
  10. Who's who in the Media. Guardian. 2006. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-85265-055-4.
  11. Withers, D -M (1 December 2020). "Enterprising Women: Independence, Finance and Virago Press, c.1976–93". Twentieth Century British History. 31 (4): 479–502. doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwz044. ISSN 0955-2359. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  12. "The Rt. Hon. Baroness Rosie Boycott". 100 First Women Portraits. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  13. McCann, Paul (28 November 2000). "Resignations start Express exodus". The Times.
  14. Dowell, Ben (25 April 2013). "Spare Rib magazine to be relaunched by Charlotte Raven". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  15. Dowell, Ben (26 April 2013). "Spare Rib: Rosie Boycott joins team relaunching feminist magazine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  16. Rose, Diana (20 September 1984). "Oozy". London Review of Books. Vol. 6, no. 17. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  17. Parkhouse, Sam (9 July 2001). Powerful Women: Dancing on the Glass Ceiling. Wiley. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-471-49905-3.
  18. "Full list of judges". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 18 December 2005.
  19. "Mowlam turns up heat on Blair". BBC News. 17 March 2002.
  20. Lacey, Josh (26 May 2007). "Here be monsters". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  21. Bird, Steve (4 September 2003). "Alcoholic ex-editor gets driving ban". The Times. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  22. Townsend, Mark (20 May 2007). "My rebirth as a latterday land girl". The Observer. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  23. Famous, Rich and Homeless. BBC Three. 2009.
  24. Cripps, Charlotte (3 June 2002). "My Greatest Mistake: Rosie Boycott, former editor of The Express and". The Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  25. "Three new non-party-political peers". Brick Court.
  26. "No. 62351". The London Gazette. 13 July 2018. p. 12484.
  27. "The Vavengers' new Patron: Baroness Rosie Boycott". The Vavengers. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  28. "Baroness Boycott receives honorary degree for contributions to journalism and social causes". Keele University. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  29. Catherine Mayer (host), Jo Brand (guest) and Rosie Boycott (guest) (3 April 2016). Jo Brand & Rosie Boycott @ 5×15 – Women's Equality Party (Video). 5×15 Stories via YouTube. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  30. Bedell, Geraldine (24 August 2008). "The interview: Rosie Boycott". The Observer.
  31. "My week: Rosie Boycott". The Observer. 10 May 2009.
  32. Page, Bruce (29 November 2004). "David Leitch". The Independent.
  33. Hodgson, Godfrey (30 November 2004). "David Leitch". The Guardian.
  34. "Book review: Our Farm by Rosie Boycott". Somerset County Gazette. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2026.