She rose to fame with BBC-2’s pioneering Late Night Line Up and was widely acclaimed for her excellent arts coverage as well as her campaigning stance on subjects like censorship, abortion, divorce, race and equality.

She is an English journalist, television presenter, an author and playwright and has received a Humanist of the Year award. awarded a Life peerage, by the Labour Party in 2011, is also president of Birkbeck, University of London. It goes on….

With her enthusiasm for the Arts… she is Chairman of the theatre company Shared Experience, Patron for the Plaza Cinema Stockport and more recently Joan has been presenting the wonderful Portrait and Landscape of the Year on TV. She is a true inspiration with a positive influence.

Joan is a long-time champion of women’s rights and was appointed ‘Voice of Older People’. She regularly appears on TV and radio (despite her 90 years), has made many documentaries, still writes for the national press and is an accomplished novelist.