Jean Rook

Jean Kathleen Rook (13 November 1931, Kingston upon Hull - September 1991) [ cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101049945/ |accessdate=2008-04-20 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ] was an English journalist dubbed "The First Lady of Fleet Street" for her regular opinion column in the "Daily Express". She was also, along with Lynda Lee-Potter a model for the Glenda Slagg column in the satirical magazine "Private Eye". [cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1474633/Lynda-Lee-Potter.html|title=Lynda Lee-Potter|publisher=Daily Telegraph|date=2004-10-21|accessdate=2008-04-20]

The daughter of an engineer and an usherette, Rook was raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire. She was educated at Maler Lambert Grammar School and Bedford College, London, where she became the first woman to edit the Sunday newspaper, "Sennet". Later, Rook moved on to the "Yorkshire Post" and from there to "Flair" - a fashion magazine. In 1964 she joined "The Sun" newspaper as its fashion editor.

In an interview, Jean Rook had revelled in describing how she had "clawed and scrambled" her way to become "the First Lady of Fleet Street...Britain's bitchiest, best known, loved and loathed woman journalist". Rook also owned up to having been the original model for "Private Eye"'s female columnist Glenda Slagg, though in truth, Rook never did allow the parody to outstrip or outshine her original self. She enjoyed her privileged position as a newspaper columnist, and dressed in extravagantly brassy style - clanking with chunky accessories - but she also had the opinions and language to match 'the look'. She was proud to succeed in what was a male-dominated industry and this was seen by many to be a boost for feminist victory.

Her never less than outrageous column became the vehicle for wild swings of opinion and no subject was taboo. Even Rook's adoring readers sometimes professed to find her unashamed vulgarity too much to bear, but despite this after nearly 20 years working for the "Daily Express", Rook remained a much-vaunted institution. She also interviewed scores of public figures, including Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Elizabeth Taylor and Barry Humphries, with her "down-to-earth approach" to all. She summed this up by having said, "You know why I'm popular with the readers? Because I'm as ordinary as they are".

Despite for what many saw as her faults and vanities, she was an esteemed and conscientious worker. She missed her deadline for her "Daily Express" column only twice in two decades - once, when her son was born, and the second time, when she was diagnosed as suffering from cancer.

References

*"Daily Telegraph" - Obituaries (6 September 1991)