Joan M Rodker (1 May 1915,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 27 December 2010) was an English political activist and television producer. The daughter of the modernist poet

John Rodker John Rodker (18 December 1894 – 6 October 1955) was an English writer, modernist poet, and publisher of modernist writers. Biography John Rodker was born on 18 December 1894 in Manchester, into a Jewish immigrant family. The family moved ...

and dancer Sonia Perovskaia Cohen, who placed her into care at age 18 months, where she remained until 11 years old. Later, Rodker lived with her mother and attended

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls Haberdashers' Girls' School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs" (or "Habs Girls" to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Boys' School). The sch ...

in Elstree, Hertfordshire, but did not shine academically. After failing the matriculation exam needed for university admission, she left school at 17. Improving her German in Prague at the insistence of her father, Rodker became attracted to Marxism, and migrated to Moscow in 1934, joining an acting troupe which toured Ukraine. After falling in love with the actor Gerhard Hinze (later known as

Gerard Heinz Gerard Heinz (born Gerhard Hinze; 2 January 1904 – 20 November 1972) was a German actor. Heinz was born in Hamburg, Germany and later moved to Britain, where he changed his name and became a British citizen. He appeared in almost 60 films (in ...

), the couple had a son Ernest in 1937 while in Odessa. During her time in the Soviet Union, Rodker met Regina Fischer, with whom she later corresponded, and who subsequently became the mother of chess grandmaster

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

. The relationship with Heinz did not survive the war. Rodker helped to publicise the Sheffield Peace Conference in 1950, and was involved in several other such gatherings. Between 1950 and 1955, Rodker was involved with the Polish Cultural Institute and (with the artist

Peter de Francia Peter Laurent de Francia (25 January 1921 – 19 January 2012) was an Italian-British artist, who was Professor of Painting at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, from 1972 to 1986. His paintings and drawing are included in art collections ...

and

John Berger John Peter Berger ( ; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to t ...

) began the Soho fair. Rodker's Kensington home was described by the ''

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

'' obituary writer as the nearest Britain ever possessed to a "communist salon". She provided help and accommodation for people of a similar persuasion, including the American expatriate

Clancy Sigal Clancy Sigal (September 6, 1926 – July 16, 2017) was an American writer, and the author of dozens of essays and seven books, the best-known of which is the autobiographical novel ''Going Away'' (1961). Early life and education Sigal was bor ...

and the novelist

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing ( Tayler; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist. She was born to British parents in Qajar Iran, Persia, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where ...

. Lessing used Rodker as a model for her character Molly Jacobs in her novel ''

The Golden Notebook ''The Golden Notebook'' is a 1962 novel by the British writer Doris Lessing. Like her two books that followed, it enters the realm of what Margaret Drabble in '' The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' called Lessing's "inner space fictio ...

'' (1962). During her career in television, Joan Rodker was a researcher on such series as

Huw Wheldon Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, (7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a Welsh broadcaster and BBC executive. Early life Huw Pyrs Wheldon was born on 7 May 1916 in Prestatyn, Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, Wales. He was educated at Friars School, Ban ...

's ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

'' and ITV's ''Tempo'' and script editor on ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Ca ...

'' and the BBC's ''

Thirty-Minute Theatre ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which ...

''. In 1980, she worked as the Executive Producer of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

's ''

Armchair Thriller ''Armchair Thriller'' is a British television drama series broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980 in two seasons. Taking the form of a sequence of unconnected serials, scripts for ''Armchair Thriller'' were adaptations of published novels and storie ...

'' series, having previously worked as the script executive earlier in the programme's run. Papers formerly in the possession of Joan Rodker were acquired by the

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 2000."Joan Rodker: A Preliminary Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center"
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodker, Joan 1915 births 2010 deaths English activists English women activists English Jews Television producers from London English women television producers