(Anne) Mary Hockaday (born 31 May 1962) is a British journalist and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ty ...

. Since October 2022, she has been

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. She was previously head of the BBC Multimedia Newsroom, and controller of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

English.

Early life

Hockaday was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, attending Oxford High School, an all-girls

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * Private (Ryōko Hirosue song), "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private ...

. She studied English at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

where she was an undergraduate student of

. Then, as a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

, studied journalism (MA) at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

Career

She joined the BBC as a

World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

production trainee in 1986. She worked as a correspondent in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in the early 1990s and as a reporter, editor, producer for World Service news output. She was also the editor of ''The World Today''. She was the editor of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs (2001–2006), managing daily and weekly news and current affairs output for 9/11,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

and the

Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. Her department won a special Sony Gold award for its 9/11 coverage. In 2007, she became deputy head of the BBC Newsroom, leading the On-Demand, Radio and Mediawire teams. In April 2009, she became Head of the Multimedia Newsroom. In October 2014 she was appointed controller of BBC World Service English. She left the BBC in 2021. On 31 May 2022, it was announced that she was to become the next

, in succession to

Jeremy Morris Jeremy Nigel Morris (born 22 January 1960) is a British historian, Church of England priest and academic. He specialises in church history. From 2014 to 2021, he was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Previously, he was Dean of Trinity Hall from ...

. She took up the post on 1 October 2022. She serves as director of the

Girls' Day School Trust The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is a group of 25 independent schools, including two academies, in England and Wales, catering for girls aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each ye ...

a group of 25 private schools in the UK and a trustee of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

. Hockaday is author of a biography of

Milena Jesenská Milena Jesenská (; 10 August 1896 – 17 May 1944) was a Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator. Early life Jesenská was born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic). Her family is believed to descend from Jan Jesenius, ...

, a Czech journalist and muse of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockaday, Mary 1962 births Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge BBC executives BBC News people BBC World Service British journalists People educated at Oxford High School, England People from Oxford Living people