Baroness Joan Dawson Bakewell DBE is an English journalist, television presenter, author, and playwright. She is recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship – the highest accolade in British broadcasting. She was awarded a Life Peerage by the Labour Party in 2011. In 2017, she was elected co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. Later that year, she was named the UK’s Humanist of the Year in recognition of her exploration of the human condition through the arts, and her humanist contributions to ethical questions in public life.

Baroness Bakewell is widely-acclaimed for her exceptional arts coverage, including documentaries, as well as for her campaigning on subjects like censorship, abortion, divorce, race and equality.

She is a long-time champion of women’s rights and was appointed ‘Voice of Older People’. She regularly appears on TV and radio, and writes for the national press, predominantly on issues relating to society, culture, and politics.

Baroness Bakewell is the president of Birkbeck, University of London.

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