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Vita Sackville-West was infatuated with her. Virginia
Woolf hated her. Sir John Reith resented her but couldn’t
do without her skills: she transformed the BBC into a
broadcaster for the people. Lady Astor was her close
friend, making a way for her into the heart of Britain’s
political, cultural and intellectual aristocracy. Hilda
Matheson was one of the most important women behind the
scenes in Britain’s public life between the wars and an
influential networker between feminist, media and political powers.
She packed more into her short life than most people would even
think possible. Every challenge was accepted, and she lived her
life to the full. Hilda worked for MI6 in the First World War, then
became Lady Astor’s political secretary, the first woman MP
to take her seat in the House of Commons. Poached by Sir John
Reith, Hilda moved to the BBC to become the first Talks Director
for the fledgling BBC, but Reith turned against her liberalising
energies, and Hilda resigned rather than compromise her principles.
Selected to lead a monumental survey of African economics and
natural resources Hilda laid the groundwork for the move away from
British colonialism. At the beginning of the Second World War she
was put in charge of a new propaganda unit to tell
Britain’s story to its allies and enemies alike through
recordings, images and books. Having suffered all her life
from Graves’ disease, which afflicted her with the
phenomenal energy levels she needed to tackle the huge tasks in her
career, Hilda died during a routine operation in 1940, aged 52. The
life of Hilda Matheson is told by her first
biographer Michael Carney and by BBC producer Kate Murphy.
This passionate, loving woman has finally been the given the
memorial her energies and achievements deserve. Her letters to Vita
Sackville-West and the Astor papers form the heart of her story,
revealing her candid and devoted nature.
When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? This life-changing book will transform your conversations forever
When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? This life-changing book will transform your conversations foreverAs a society, we've forgotten how to listen. Modern life is noisy and frenetic, and technology provides constant distraction. So we tune things out or listen selectively - even to those we love most. We've become scared of other people's points of view, and of silence.Now more than ever, we need to listen to those around us. New York Times contributor Kate Murphy draws on countless conversations she has had with everyone from priests to CIA interrogators, focus group moderators to bartenders, her great-great aunt to her friend's toddler, to show how only by listening well can we truly connect with others.Listening is about curiosity and patience - about asking the right questions in the right way. Improvisational comedians and con men are much better at it than most of us. And the cleverest people can be the worst at it. Listening has the potential to transform our relationships and our working lives, improve our self-knowledge, and increase our creativity and happiness. While it may take some effort, it's a skill that can be learnt and perfected. When all we crave is to understand and be understood, You're Not Listening shows us how.
Behind the Wireless tells the story of women at the BBC in the
1920s and 30s. Broadcasting was brand new in Britain and the BBC
developed without many of the overt discriminatory practices
commonplace at the time. Women were employed at all levels, except
the very top, for instance as secretaries, documentary makers,
advertising representatives, and librarians. Three women held
Director level posts, Hilda Matheson (Director of Talks), Mary
Somerville (Director of School Broadcasting), and Isa Benzie
(Foreign Director). Women also produced the programmes aimed at
female listeners and brought women broadcasters to the microphone.
There was an ethos of equality and the chance to rise through the
ranks from accounts clerk to accompanist. But lurking behind the
facade of modernity were hidden inequalities in recruitment, pay,
and promotion and in 1932 a marriage bar was introduced. Kate
Murphy examines how and why the interwar BBC created new
opportunities for women.
Fears and Fantasies: Modernity, Gender, and the Rural-Urban Divide
explores the ways in which fantasies about returning to, or
revitalising, rural life helped to define Western modernity in the
early twentieth century. Scholarship addressing responses to
modernity has focused on urban space and fears about the effects of
city life; few studies have considered the 'rural' to be as
critical as the 'urban' in understanding modernity. This book
argues that the rural is just as significant a reference point as
the urban in discourses about modernity. Using a rich Australian
case study to illuminate broader international themes, it focuses
on the role of gender in ideas about the rural-urban divide,
showing how the country was held up against the 'unnatural' city as
a space in which men were more 'masculine' and women more
'feminine'. Fears and Fantasies is an innovative and important
contribution to scholarship in the fields of history and gender
studies.
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