Triona Holden is an author, artist, journalist, former BBC presenter and correspondent. Holden began her career in 1976, aged 17, as a journalist at the ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid in 1993. ''The Sta ...

'' newspaper, eventually becoming their assistant crime reporter. Her first major story was

Peter Sutcliffe Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020), also known as Peter Coonan, was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He was du ...

, the Yorkshire Ripper. Triona at home

She briefly worked as a broadcast journalist for Mercia Sound in Coventry, then a freelancer for

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

in London, before joining the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 1982. She started on BBC Radio, before moving to television. Working as a news presenter and reporter, she covered the

miners' strike The following is a list of miners' strikes. Miners' strikes are when miners conduct strike actions. See also *List of strikes *History of coal mining in the United States References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miners' strikes Miners' labor disputes, ...

of 1984-85. She was later to write ''Queen Coal: Women of the Miners'', published in 2005, derived from her experiences covering the strike. She was the youngest female national news reporter and the youngest person to present the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' and '' PM'' programme on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

; presented the ''Six O'Clock News'' on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

; ''

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.

'' on Radio 1 and World TV News. In 1987 she was the only reporter to broadcast live from the disaster scene after getting onto the wreck of the

Herald of Free Enterprise MS ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew. The eight-deck car and passenger ferry was ow ...

when it became semi-submerged off Zeebrugge. While at the BBC, in her role as a reporter, she travelled extensively to war zones, famines, conflicts, and other disasters, including the aftermath of the

Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between th ...

, the Brixton Riots, and the 1986 coup in

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. Holden retired from the BBC on medical grounds aged 39 after becoming seriously ill with

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...

. She later retrained as an artist. From a Foundation Course in Fine Art & Design at The Camden Working Men's College 2006, she went on to Chelsea College of Fine Art and Design graduating in 2010 with BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She is currently living and working in Whitstable. Her book ''An Iron Girl in a Velvet Glove'', a biography of Miss Joan Rhodes, will be published by The History Press was published on 18 November 2021. She is currently a member of ''A is for Aphra (Behn) Society''

Bibliography

*Holden, Triona. ''Positive Options for Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS): Self-Help and Treatment'' (2003) *Holden, Triona & Hughes, Graham. ''Talking About Lupus: What to do and how to cope'' (2004) *Holden, Triona. ''Queen Coal: Women of the Miners' Strike'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Triona British war correspondents BBC people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British artists