Nan Winton, the BBC’s first ever female newsreader has died at the age of 93.
She made her debut on 20 June 1960 after the broadcaster deemed her “serious enough to overcome the prejudice voiced in the media that said women were too frivolous to be bearers of grave news.”
Winton, whose full name was Nancy Wigginton, read the late bulletins seven times before her tenure ended in October the same year, with BBC audience research indicating that a woman reading the late night news was “not acceptable.”
She remained the only woman to have read national news on the BBC until 1975 when Angela Rippon began working as a newsreader.
Winton died in hospital on May 11 after a fall at her home in Bridport and an inquest into her death will take place on January 29 next year.
Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs paid tribute to Winton.
She said in a statement: “We send our condolences to Nan’s family and friends.
“At a time when we have a host of brilliant women who present, edit, film and report the BBC news, we should look back and pay tribute to trailblazers such as Nan, the first female newsreader on the BBC.”