Anne Sharpley Explained

Anne Sharpley (1928-1989) was an English journalist.

In the 1940s, she attended art school in York. While there, she won a Vogue magazine competition, which led to a career in journalism.^[1] During the 1960s, she was an investigative reporter with London's Evening Standard.

She was known for scooping other reporters with her account of Winston Churchill's funeral, by vandalising a telephone after filing it, thereby delaying her rivals' reports.^[2] She reputedly told Ann Leslie that a female foreign correspondent should:^[3]

She appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 2 January 1967.^[4]

Six photographs of her, five in a 1961 series by Ida Kar and one from 1965, by Jorge Lewinski, are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. A memorial to her, in the form of a planted urn on a stone plinth, stands in St John's Lodge Garden, Regent's Park, London.^[5] The plinth is inscribed with the words:^[6]

William Stevenson described how she was nicknamed "Shapley Sharpley" by Randolph Churchill.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Anne Sharpley. National Portrait Gallery. 29 July 2014.
2. Web site: Media's ethics have always come second in pursuit of a good story - Independent.ie. 5 December 2011. Irish Independent. 29 July 2014.
3. Web site: Carole Cadwalladr talks to Ann Leslie, Queen of the frontline. Cadwalladr. Carole. 5 April 2009. The Observer . 29 July 2014.
4. Web site: Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Anne Sharpley . . BBC . 27 July 2014.
5. 51.529°N -0.1515°W
6. See photograph at: Web site: St. John's Lodge: The Secret Garden. 22 March 2013. Landscape Notes. 29 July 2014.
7. Book: Stevenson, William . William Stevenson (Canadian writer)

   . William Stevenson (Canadian writer) . Past to Present: A Reporter's Story of War, Spies, People and Politics . 2012 . Lyons Press . 9780762773701 . registration .