Rosie Boycott, Baroness Boycott

Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott, Baroness Boycott (born 13 May 1951) is a British journalist and feminist.

The Right Honourable The Baroness Boycott
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 July 2018 Life peerage
Personal details
Born	Rosel Marie Boycott (1951-05-13) 13 May 1951 Saint Helier, Jersey
Political party	Crossbench
Spouse(s)	Charles Howard
Education	University of Kent
Occupation	Journalist, editor

Early life

The daughter of Major Charles Boycott and Betty Le Sueur Boycott, Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott was born in Saint Helier, Jersey. She was educated at the independent Cheltenham Ladies' College and read mathematics at the University of Kent.

Journalism career

Boycott worked for a year or so with Frendz radical magazine[1] and in 1972, she co-founded the feminist magazine Spare Rib with Marsha Rowe. Later, both women became directors of Virago Press, a publishing concern committed to women's writing, with Carmen Callil, who had founded the company in 1973.

From 1992 to 1996, she was editor of the UK edition of men's magazine Esquire. She headed both The Independent and its sister publication the Independent on Sunday (1996–98). While editing The Independent on Sunday in 1997, she campaigned for the decriminalisation of cannabis use by individuals,[2] earning her the nickname "Rizla Rosie".[3] She addressed the Decriminalise Cannabis rally in London's Trafalgar Square on 28 March 1998.[4]

Later, she edited the Daily Express (May 1998 – January 2001), leaving soon after the newspaper was bought by Richard Desmond, who replaced her with Chris Williams.

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

Outside journalism

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.[5] 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",[6] and announced her support for the Liberal Democrats. She was rumoured to have considered becoming a Parliamentary candidate.

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.[7] 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.[8] Since her accident, Boycott has been running a farm in Somerset.[9] She campaigned for Diana, Princess of Wales, in the 2002 BBC programme to find the greatest Briton.

On 5 August 2008, she was appointed as the chairman of London Food as part of Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson's attempt to help improve Londoners’ access to healthy, locally produced and affordable food. In September 2007, Boycott 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 Famous, Rich and Homeless about living penniless on the streets of London.[10]

In June 2018, Boycott was nominated for a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[11] She was created Baroness Boycott, of Whitefield in the County of Somerset, on 9 July.[12]

Boycott is a supporter of the Women's Equality Party.[13]

Publications

• Batty Bloomers and Boycott: A Little Etymology of Eponymous Words, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1983, ISBN 0-911745-12-2
• The Fastest Diet, London: Sphere, 1984. ISBN 0-7221-1960-7
• A Nice Girl Like Me: A Story of the Seventies, 1988, ISBN 0-330-30103-9
• All for Love, London: Fontana, 1989, ISBN 0-00-617698-4
• Our Farm: A Year in the Life of a Smallholding, London: Bloomsbury, 2007, ISBN 0-7475-8897-X

References

1. ibiblio: Friends magazine: Rosie Boycott
2. News briefs: British Newspaper, the Independent on Sunday, Calls for Marijuana Decriminalization
3. BBC News: Boycott's climb to the top
4. "Rosie Boycott's speech in Trafalgar Square, 28 March 1998". Archived from the original on 4 April 2006.
5. "New Statesman – Full list of judges". Archived from the original on 18 December 2005.
6. BBC News: Mowlam turns up heat on Blair
7. Josh Lacey Here be monsters, The Guardian, 26 May 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
8. Steve Bird Alcoholic ex-editor gets driving ban, The Times, 4 September 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
9. Mark Townsend My rebirth as a latterday land girl, The Observer, 20 May 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
10. BBC page about Famous, Rich and Homeless
11. "Three new non-party-political peers".
12. "No. 62351". The London Gazette. 13 July 2018. p. 12484.
13. 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.

External links

• "Sisterhood Revisited", Open Democracy public meeting at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, 7 March 2002
• Rosie Boycott at Friends Magazine (Philm Freax)
• Rosie Outlook (Media Guardian)
• Rosie's Hell's Kitchen profile
• The Oldie magazine
• Knight Ayton Management page

Media offices
Preceded by Charles Wilson	Editor of The Independent on Sunday 1996– May 1998	Succeeded by Kim Fletcher
Preceded by Andrew Marr	Editor of The Independent January 1998 – March 1998	Succeeded by Rosie Boycott and Andrew Marr
Preceded by Rosie Boycott	Editor of The Independent (jointly with Andrew Marr) March 1998 – May 1998	Succeeded by Simon Kelner
Preceded by Richard Addis	Editor of the Daily Express 1998–2001	Succeeded by Chris Williams