Olive Mary Shapley (10 April 1910 in

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

, London – 13 March 1999 in

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales) was a British

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

and broadcaster.

Early life

Olive Shapley was born

, south London, into a Unitarian family. Her parents named her after the South African author

Olive Schreiner Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel '' The Story of an African Farm'' (1883), which has been highly acclaimed. It dea ...

. In 1929 Shapley went to read history at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

. There she met her lifelong friend Barbara Betts, the future Labour politician

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...

; the two women spent their holidays together and shared an interest in politics. Shapley was attracted to

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

, prompted by a probable relationship with fellow student Sajjad Zaheer, and she joined the communist student organisation the

October Club The October Club was a group of Tory Members of Parliament, established after the 1710 general election. The Club was active until approximately 1714. The group took its name from the strong ale they reportedly drank.Pat Rogers, �October Club (' ...

. Although her involvement in communist politics was short-lived, it attracted the interest of the security services, who continued to monitor her for most of her life. Castle recalled that she recognised in Olive "a fellow rebel against the sexist conventions of the Oxford of the 1920s".

Career

After a brief period working for the

Workers' Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

and teaching at several schools, she joined the BBC in 1934 as an organiser of ''

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

'' programming at BBC Manchester, there she soon developed an interest in documentary features as an assistant producer. During a live programme called ''Men Talking'', Shapley had to use placards requesting Durham miners "not say bugger or bloody", one incident of several which persuaded BBC Director General Sir John Reith to insist on broadcasts being scripted.Peter M. Lewis "Referable Words", in Paddy Scannell (ed) ''Broadcast Talk'', London: Sage, p. 14 Using a recording van, weighing "seven tons when fully loaded", Shapley recorded actuality, which was innovative at the time, but the broadcast of swear words could now be avoided. She thought a claim by Paddy Scannell and David Cardiff that she was an innovator as being expressed in "very flattering terms". With

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

in 1939 she created ''The Classic Soil'' (the programme still exists) which compared the social conditions of the day with those observed a century earlier by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.

New York

In 1939, Shapley married John Salt, the BBC's programme director in the North region; at the time, the BBC did not permit married couples to work together at the corporation, and so Shapley resigned. However, she continued to work for the BBC as a freelancer. In 1941, Salt was appointed deputy North American director by the BBC, meaning Shapley and her husband lived in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

for much of the war. They rented an apartment on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

from fellow broadcaster

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the Unite ...

and employed a maid named Mabel, who lived in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. She and Olive formed a friendship, and this connection enabled Olive to gain access to the Black community in Harlem. She began to record interviews with Mabel's neighbours and produced radio programmes about the lives of black people in America. She also started to produce a "newsletter" programme which was sent back to Britain and broadcast fortnightly on the BBC's ''Children's Hour''; among her interviewees were

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

. Shapley's "newsletter" programme format has been credited as an inspiration for Alistair Cooke's long-running programme for adult listeners, ''

Letter from America ''Letter from America'' was a weekly fifteen-minute spoken word radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and its predecessor, the Home Service, and around the world through the BBC World Service. From its first edition to its last, it was prese ...

''. Salt, who had served as the BBC's North America assistant director (1942–44) and later director (1944–45), died suddenly on 26 December 1947.

''Woman's Hour''

Shapley returned to London and lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

. She became a regular presenter of ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'', a programme with which she was associated ("on and off") for over twenty years, introducing the programme between 1949 and July 21st 1950.Radio Times
/ref> She is credited with introducing some formerly

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

subjects to the programme, such as discussions about the

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...

and women living independently of men. Shapley also wrote articles for '' Modern Woman'' magazine. In 1958, she began working in television, presenting '' Women of Today'' and narrating a children's programme, ''Olive Shapley Tells a Story'', on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

Manchester

Shapley remarried in 1952 to Manchester businessman Christopher Gorton. In 1953, the couple bought ''Rose Hill'', a house on Millgate Lane in

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

, Manchester, where Olive lived for 28 years. Gorton died of a heart attack in 1959 and Shapley underwent treatment for

severe depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introd ...

. She subsequently returned to her broadcasting career, taking a six-week BBC television training course in 1959, which enabled her to become a producer in the newer medium. Though largely based at BBC Manchester again, from where she broadcast on television, she regularly commuted to London for some years. She devised a programme about books, ''Something to Read'', and convinced the BBC to use journalist

Brian Redhead Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. He was a great love ...

as the presenter. It had been felt that his Geordie accent would be incomprehensible to viewers. When in Manchester, Shapley worked at

Dickenson Road Studios Dickenson Road Studios was a film and television studio in Rusholme, Manchester, in north-west England. It was originally set up in 1947 in a former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel by the film production company Mancunian Films and was acquired by ...

, the BBC's regional TV production studio which was housed in a converted Methodist Church in

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, two miles south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. The population of the ward at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorl ...

. Shapley recalled that the facilities at Studio A consisted of "one studio and very cramped make up and other production facilities, with a canteen and a few poky little dressing rooms. We coped well enough, though I do remember apologising sometimes to guests who clearly found the place not quite up to their expectations of the BBC."

Humanitarian work

In the mid-1960s, Shapley formed the Rose Hill Trust for Unsupported Mothers and Babies (a term she preferred over "unmarried mothers") and set up her home as a refuge for

single mother A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include death, divorce, break-up, abandonment, bec ...

s. In the late 1970s, she used her home as a refuge for

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

. After she sold Rose Hill in 1981, Shapley continued to live in Didsbury until 1992, when she moved to

Rhayader Rhayader (; ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Radnorshire. The town is from the source of the River Wye on Plynlimon, the highest point of the Cambri ...

in mid-Wales to live closer to her family. Shapley wrote her autobiography with the assistance of her daughter, Christina Hart. Shortly after publication in 1996, Shapley suffered a severe stroke. She was subsequently moved to a nursing home, where she died in 1999. After her death, a street in Didsbury was named after her, Olive Shapley Avenue. Olive Shapley was longlisted in 2015 for the WoManchester Statue. Although Emmeline Pankhurst was decisively selected, Shapley's innovative broadcasting work was brought to the attention of a new generation. The Pankhurst statue now sits in St Peter's Square, Manchester. A book published to as part of the statue campaign, ''First in the Fight'', dedicates a chapter to Olive Shapley along with the other nineteen women considered for the statue.

Publication

Olive Shapley's autobiography, ''Broadcasting a Life'', was published in 1996.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

''Coal''
broadcast 17 November 1938, BBC Archive site
''We Have Been Evacuated''
documentary recorded in September 1939 presented and produced by Olive Shapley, BBC Archive site
''Woman's Hour''
9 April 2010 (iPlayer sound file) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shapley, Olive 1910 births 1999 deaths BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC radio producers British radio presenters British radio producers British reporters and correspondents British television producers British women television producers English television presenters 20th-century British journalists People from Peckham People from Didsbury British women radio presenters Workers' Educational Association Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford English women philanthropists British women radio producers