Mary Ann Sieghart
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Mary Ann Sieghart (born August 6, 1961) is a former assistant editor of The Times, where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life generally. She also wrote leaders, features and analytical pieces both for the main paper and for Times2. On 28 June 2007[1] it was announced that Sieghart is leaving The Times to write a book on contemporary Britain.
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[edit] Biography
Sieghart was born in 1961, the daughter of Paul Sieghart, a human rights lawyer, campaigner, broadcaster and author, and Felicity Ann Sieghart, chairman of the National Association for Gifted Children, magistrate and later managing director of the Aldeburgh Cinema. She attended both state and private schools and graduated with a first-class degree in PPE from Wadham College, Oxford. While she was there, she worked for The Daily Telegraph in her vacations.
[edit] Health
Suffering from the medical condition prosopagnosia (face blindness), she (and several members of her family) struggle to recognise faces.[2]
[edit] Career
After Oxford, Sieghart joined The Financial Times, where she became Eurobond Correspondent and then a Lex columnist. She spent a summer in 1984 working for The Washington Post, as the Laurence Stern Fellow. From the FT, she was recruited to be City Editor of Today newspaper at its launch in 1986. When it was taken over by Tiny Rowland, she moved to The Economist to be Political Correspondent. She also presented The World This Week on Channel 4.
In 1988, she joined The Times, as editor of the comment pages. During her time there, she was also Arts Editor, Chief Political leader-writer and acting editor of the paper on Sundays. In 1995, she chaired the revival of The Brains Trust on BBC2.
Sieghart is a regular broadcaster, appearing on programmes such as Question Time, Any Questions, Newsnight, Today, The World Tonight and Woman's Hour. She was a regular co-presenter of Start the Week during the time Melvyn Bragg was the programme's main presenter and has been a guest presenter of The Week in Westminster and Dispatch Box.
[edit] Other activities
Sieghart has served as a trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund and National Heritage Memorial Fund, vice-chair of the North Fulham New Deal for Communities, steering committee member of the No Campaign and New Europe, member of the Advisory Board of the Social Studies Faculty at Oxford University and various other voluntary posts.
[edit] Private Eye
The satirical magazine Private Eye has regularly lampooned her newspaper columns by way of spoofs written under the name of Mary Ann Bighead.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Stephen Brook "Mary Ann Sieghart leaves Times", The Guardian website, 28 June 2007. Retrieved on 29 June 2007.
- ^ Kelly Strange "Everyone looks the same to me", Mirror.co.uk website, 9 November 2007. Retrieved on 15 April 2008.
- ^ The Private Eye Annual 2004 (Pressdram Ltd, London, 2004). ISBN 1-901784-34-7
