Jenni Murray

Britain has been defined by its conflicts, its conquests, its men and its monarchs. To say that it's high time that it was defined by its women falls some way short of an understatement. Jenni Murray, the long-time presenter of Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, draws together the lives twenty-one women to shed light upon a variety of social, political, religious and cultural aspects of British history.

A Personal Selection

A History of Britain in 21 Women

The inimitable Jenni Murray celebrates great women from around the world - rescuing some from obscurity and shining a new light on familiar names

A History of the World in 21 Women

Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Constance Markievicz, Nancy Astor They terrorised the establishment. They fought for the vote. They pushed back boundaries and revolutionised our world. For the hundredth anniversary of the historic moment the franchise was finally extended to women, here is a selection of suffragette and suffragist activists and pioneering MPs from the pages of Jenni Murray’s bestselling A History of Britain in 21 Women. Set against the backdrop of a world where equality is still to be achieved, it is a vital reminder of the great women who fought for change.

The Pioneers and Heroines of Female Suffrage (from the pages of A History of Britain in 21 Women)

Votes For Women!

At sixty-four, Jenni Murray's weight had become a disability. She avoided the scales, she wore a uniform of baggy black clothes, refused to make connections between her weight and health issues and told herself that she was fat and happy. She was certainly fat. But the happy part was an Oscar-winning performance. In private she lived with a growing sense of fear and misery that it would probably kill her before she made it to seventy. Interwoven with the science, social history and psychology of weight management Fat Cow, Fat Chance is a refreshingly honest account of what it's like to be fat when society dictates that skinny is the norm. It asks why we overeat and why, when the weight is finally lost through dieting, do we simply pile the pounds back on again? How do we help young people become comfortable with the way they look? What are the consequences of the obesity epidemic for an already overstretched NHS? And, whilst fat shaming is so often called out, why is it that shouting 'fat cow' at a woman in the street hasn't been included in the list of hate crimes? Fusing politics, science and personal pain, this is a powerful exploration of our battle with obesity.

How I Took Control of the Battle with Obesity

Fat Cow, Fat Chance

The only child of an electrical engineer and a mother who resented the fact that she'd never been to university, the broadcaster Jenni Murray grew up in a traditional household in the 1950s. But instead of becoming the conventional housewife her mother expected her to be, Jenni opted to forge her own path in both her career and her personal life. The resulting tensions have lasted as long as she can remember. How, she has often wondered, could two women be so close, so full of love for each other, and at the same time so full of hate that they broke each other's hearts? And so Jenni began her remarkable memoir - and continued to write throughout 2006 as her mother lay dying, and Jenni struggled to care for her and her beloved father while herself being treated for breast cancer. Filled with love and laughter, frustration and heartbreak, and with the courage 'to keep on keeping on' even in the darkest days, it will speak to every mother and daughter, dutiful or not.

Memoirs of a Not So Dutiful Daughter

Much beloved broadcaster Dame Jenni Murray recounts her great love affair with Butch the Chihuahua.

The Heart-Warming True Story of a Little Dog Who Made Life Worth Living Again

My Boy Butch

A poignant, practical, light-hearted and celebratory look at raising boys with a strong and controversial message, asking that parents and the education system take responsibility for the 'feminisation' of boys, in much the same way as attention was paid to the 'masculinisation' of girls. Media and government attention is now being focussed on the fact that girls are outperforming boys academically but no mention is made of what kind of husbands and fathers they will make. With many families stretched to breaking point on the rack of mismatched expectations, boys need guidance on juggling work and family in the same way as girls are expected to; becoming domesticated as well as surviving in the jungle of accepted notions of 'masculinity'. The vital message is that boys, like girls, should have choices and should not be forced into the stereotypical role of the male as absent father or football fan. That's My Boy! covers boys' lives from birth to 18 and discusses everything from how a mother deals with the shock of caring for and maintaining a member of the opposite sex, how to endure hours spent on a rugby touchline, how to read the signs that indicate a longing for physical affection and whether or not to laugh at sexist jokes they bring home.

That's My Boy

Screening for cystic fibrosis

Presenting research on the development and education of boys, this book draws on the author's own experience of raising two sons, as well as that of other parents.

That's My Boy!

Much beloved broadcaster Jenni Murray recounts her great love affair with Butch the Chihuahua. There was always a dog. If not real, then imagined. As a lonely only child, Jenni Murray longed to have a dog.

Published to mark the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio's Woman's Hour, this book looks at the achievements of women since the end of World War II. It contains personal views and reminiscences on topics such as health, education, family and home, work, sex, fashion and politics.

50 Years of Women in Britain

The Woman's Hour

In Is it me or it hot in here? Jenni Murray, one of Britain's most popular journalists and broadcasters, addresses the menopause. She looks at what the menopause is - its symptoms and how it affects overall health. She also looks at the psychological and social implications. There is an overview of the latest research on HRT - its benefits and drawbacks - and the new work which is being done on various 'alternative' therapies. She includes discussions on sex life, social life, face-lifts (or otherwise), exercise (or otherwise), keeping your figure and discovering one's place in life as a middle aged woman in a feminist era. The section on rethinking the menopause looks at changing attitudes and how to cope with post-menopausal life, offering a new agenda for post-menopausal women. Throughout, the tone is inquiring but accessible, making it one of the most appealing books on the menopause written to date.

Jenni Murray

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