Eileen Ascroft (1914 – 29 April 1962) was a British journalist and writer. Ascroft worked as a journalist at the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its Masthead (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'', where she met her second husband, Hugh Cudlipp; the couple married in 1945. (Her first husband was the film director

Alexander Mackendrick Alexander Mackendrick (September 8, 1912 – December 22, 1993) was an American-born director and professor, long based in Scotland. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and later moved to Scotland. He began making television commercials befor ...

.) In her book about Cudlipp, ''Newspapermen'', Ruth Dudley Edwards describes Ascroft as "blonde, talented and ambitious". Ascroft was sacked from the ''Mirror'' by the Editorial Director, Harry Guy Bartholomew, for using his oak office door as a dartboard. Ascroft was responsible for starting the women's page at the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''. She and Hugh went on to become the most powerful couple on Fleet Street: "The combined power of Mr and Mrs Cudlipp over the livelihoods of hundreds, maybe thousands, of newspaper men and woman ic even benevolently exercised as they have always been, are going to be immense and terrifying". According to an obituary notice in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', "she could also pilot an aeroplane, having learnt to do so in an idle spell in Australia". Ascroft died in April 1962, aged 47. At an inquest, her death was ruled to accidental, from an unintended overdose of sleeping pills. Her book, ''The Magic Key to Charm'' (1938), is a collection of her journalism for women published by the ''Mirror''.

References

1914 births 1962 deaths English women journalists Spouses of life peers Women's page journalists {{UK-journalist-stub