Catherine Bennett (journalist)

Early life and education

The elder daughter of Geoffrey Bennett, of Smelthouses, North Yorkshire, Bennett was educated at Lawnswood High School, Leeds, and Hertford College, Oxford.

Career

Bennett began her career in journalism at Honey magazine. Subsequently, she worked at The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times, The Times and the short-lived Sunday Correspondent newspaper before joining The Guardian around 1990. She joined The Observer at the beginning of 2008, and was on the Orwell Prize's Journalism shortlist for 2009. In opinion pieces for the Observer, she has criticised the House of Lords.

In February 2023, a weekly column from Bennett in The Observer led to fellow Observer columnist James Wong resigning his own column and writing to the editorial department and tweeting to describe the column by Bennett as "completely unacceptable". Bennett's column sought to defend female MPs accused of transphobia in the context of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and mentioned Rosie Duffield, Joanna Cherry and Miriam Cates by name, criticising comments by Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Ben Bradshaw.

Personal life

From 1985 to 1992, Bennett was married to Robert Sackville-West, who inherited the title of Baron Sackville on the death of his uncle in 2004. She subsequently had a relationship with the books editor of the Evening Standard, David Sexton, ending before September 2005. She later had a relationship with the broadcaster John Humphrys, beginning in 2009.

References

References

1. Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 148th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, Debrett's Ltd, 2011, p. 1369
2. Stephen Brook, [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/30/guardianbennett?gusrc=rss&feed=media "Observer hires Guardian columnist"], ''The Guardian'', 30 November 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
3. link. (2011-04-28 , ''[[Press Gazette]]'', 26 March 2009.)
4. (18 May 2013). "Aristocrats make bid for equality? That's a new one". The Observer.
5. (11 October 2014). "Illiterate? Criminal record? Welcome to the House of Lords". The Observer.
6. Wong, James. (29 January 2023). "As a columnist at the Observer, I have written to them to express my shock. This is completely unacceptable.".
7. Maher, Bron. (27 February 2023). "Columnist James Wong leaves The Observer and claims 'institutionalised transphobia'". Press Gazette.
8. Bennett, Catherine. (28 January 2023). "Forget Andrew Tate – what about the host of misogynists in Labour's ranks?". [[The Observer]].
9. (19 September 2005). "Married to the Job". [[The Independent]].
10. Gordon, Bryony. (22 September 2009). "John Humphrys: 'I've always felt like a bit of a fraud'". The Daily Telegraph.