Sheila Borrett (born Margaret Sheila Graham; 20 June 1905 – 30 April 1986) was a British radio presenter, the first female announcer on the BBC’s National Service.[1] At the time of her work as a BBC announcer she was referred to as Mrs Giles Borrett,[2] but she generally used the stage name Sheila Stewart, or during a later marriage Sheila Wasey.

Sheila Borrett
Born
Margaret Sheila Graham

(1905-06-20)20 June 1905
Harrow, Middlesex, England
Died30 April 1986(1986-04-30) (aged 80)
Other namesSheila Stewart
Mrs Giles Borrett
Sheila Wasey
Occupation(s)Radio broadcaster, actress, radio station programmer
Years active1930s–1970s

Life and career

edit

She was born in Harrow, Middlesex, England. She was a theatrical actress known as Sheila Stewart when she first appeared in plays broadcast by the BBC,[3] and married Giles Borrett in 1930. She had ambitions of becoming an announcer, and was employed by the BBC in a well-publicised initiative in July 1933,[2] to become the first ever female announcer on the station.[4] She later said that she was hired for her strong, low-pitched voice, adding: "In those days, radio was so bad technically that a woman's high-pitched voice was very displeasing to the ear."[3] After just three months, she was removed from the position in November 1933[5] after the BBC received thousands of complaints from listeners who were uncomfortable with hearing a woman announcer.[6][7]

After she and her husband opened a cleaning business in 1934,[3] she continued to work occasionally as an actress at the BBC, especially in reading novels aloud for broadcast.[8] She and Borrett divorced; she then married Ian Cox, a former BBC colleague, in March 1940. They divorced in July 1945. She continued to broadcast for the BBC, as an announcer, during and after the Second World War.[2][3] She married an American, Gager Wasey, and moved to the United States in 1952,[7] becoming a naturalized citizen in 1961.[9] In 1967, as Sheila Wasey, she was working as Programme Director at WQXM (FM) in Clearwater, Florida.[10] After her husband's death in 1970, she moved to Dunedin, and from the 1970s, again using the name Sheila Stewart, she hosted programmes at WUSF (FM) in Tampa.[11]

She died in 1986 at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, aged 80, after suffering a stroke.[3]

Legacy

edit

The University of South Florida created a memorial fund to commemorate her broadcasting career.[11] She was featured in the book Behind the Wireless: An Early History of Women at the BBC by Kate Murphy[12] and The Untold Story of the Talking Book by Matthew Rubery.[13]

References

edit
  1. ^ "#OTD 1933: Sheila Borrett became the first female announcer on the BBC's National Service". Twitter. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Denis Gifford, The Golden Age of Radio, B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, ISBN 0-7134-4235-2, p.177
  3. ^ a b c d e Death notice, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 2, 1986, p.11
  4. ^ "The BBC: A Timeline". Scotsman. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Women's History Timeline". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Women in News and Current Affairs Broadcasting (Communications Committee Report) — Motion to Take Note". They Work for You. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Sheila Borrett - the first female announcer on the BBC", David Lloyd's Radio Moments: A Dozen Great Women, 20 February 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2021
  8. ^ Search, Sheila Borrett, Radio Times, BBC Genome. Retrieved 25 March 2021
  9. ^ Sheila Stewart Wasey, Florida Naturalization Records, 1880-1991., Tampa, Florida. Petition Number: 17416
  10. ^ "WQXM - A History", RadioYears.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021
  11. ^ a b "USF to pay tribute...", Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, June 19, 1986, p.32
  12. ^ Murphy, Kate (2016). 'You Feel Their Personal Touch': Women Broadcasters. Springer. pp. 221–250. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-49173-2_8. ISBN 978-1-137-49172-5.
  13. ^ Rubery, Matthew (14 November 2016). The Untold Story of the Talking Book. ISBN 9780674545441. Retrieved 5 November 2017.