The Fleet Street Girls
The Women Who Broke Down the Doors of the Gentleman’s Club
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The Fleet Street Girls
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Narrated by:
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Julie Welch
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By:
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Julie Welch
About this listen
When Julie Welch called in her first ever football report at the Observer, an entire room of men fell silent. Heart in her mouth, Julie waited for the voice on the other end of the line to declare it passable. She'd done it. She was the first ever female football reporter.
In The Fleet Street Girls, Julie looks back at the steps that led to that moment, from the National Union of Journalists nearly calling a strike when she dared to write an article as a mere secretary (despite allowing men who weren't journalists to write for the same pages), and many other battles in between.
Julie also shines a light on the other trail-blazing women who were climbing the ladder against all odds, from Lynn Barber (of An Education fame) to Wendy Holden, a war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, and many more, as well as some of the secretaries whom the men overlooked but who actually knew everything. Pioneers one and all.
The Fleet Street Girls is a fascinating story of the hopes and despairs, triumphs and tribulations of a group of women in the glitzy heyday of journalism, where they could be interviewing Elton John one moment and ducking flying bullets or fighting off the sex pests the next. At a time when Fleet Street was the biggest, cosiest all-male club you can imagine, and the interests of half the human race were consigned to 'The Women's Page' in the paper, we follow Julie and her contemporaries through dramas, excitement and sheer fun in their battle to make sure women's voices were heard.
©2020 Julie Welch (P)2020 Orion Publishing GroupListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Fleet Street Girls
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Treecreeper
- 25-05-21
Needs more memoir/anecdotes, less reportage
As a former national newspaper reporter myself, the parts I enjoyed were the personal memoir and newsroom anecdotes. Was hoping for a bit more humiliation for the 70s male chauvinists with pipes. "I wasn't so keen on the feature- style interviews," he said, adding: "But I appreciate a point was being made."
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms L
- 25-08-20
Bloody brilliant!
I’m 41, thought I knew about feminism, then watched Mrs America last week because, well, Cate Blanchett. Turns out I know naff all. This book is my first conscious foray into the world that was just before I was born and during the rest of my life. Wow! A balance of fantasy storytelling and factual recounting. It’s not a man-bashing fest, but rather a candid look at the highs and lows of being a woman in a man’s world. Would highly recommend to all.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- S. J. Robinson
- 27-12-20
awful narration
so wanted to read this book. didn't last a chapter...narration is dire, it was just nor listenable.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- John Buckley
- 09-10-23
Fascinating view of Fleet Street and women at work
I tended to get lost as Julie swaps between remembering different women she worked with. Be prepared for women who find being a woman inconvenient, get pregnant, get married, man leaves, get divorced, employ nanny, send child to private school, glass ceilings. Many reminiscences of outrageously inappropriate behaviour by men. A love/hate relationship with Fleet Street.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Miss Rona J Yard
- 12-09-20
Disjointed and confused.
No real layout of story. Often repetitive. Struggled to finish. Maybe more suited to shorter bites
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1 person found this helpful