Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1929 (age 96–97) Manchester, England |
| Education | Roedean School |
| Occupations | Television and radio critic |
| Notable credit | The Guardian |
Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for 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]
References
- ↑ Banks-Smith, Nancy (2 March 2016). "Nancy Banks-Smith: 'I grew up in a pub – I thought Corrie was a documentary'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
- 1 2 "Celebrating 40 years of Nancy Banks-Smith". The Guardian. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
- ↑ Banks-Smith, Nancy (8 August 2022). "Nancy Banks-Smith on June Spencer: 70 years of muck and bullocks!". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
- ↑ "Some who turned honours down", The Guardian, 22 December 2003, retrieved 31 August 2012.
External links
- Nancy Banks-Smith archives of her television reviews in The Guardian
- Last Night's TV Archive of Guardian TV reviews (multiple reviewers) from 24 December 1998 onwards
- "'A nice little job for a woman at home'", Nancy Banks-Smith on her 30 years as a TV critic, The Guardian, 21 November 2001
- "Nancy Banks-Smith: classic TV reviews, The Guardian, 4 February 2010