Virginia Ironside

Last updated

Virginia Ironside (born 3 February 1944) is a British journalist, agony aunt and author. Born in London, she is the daughter of Christopher Ironside, painter and coin designer, and Janey Ironside who was the first professor of fashion design at the Royal College of Art. She was the niece of the painter and designer Robin Ironside. [1]

Contents

Education

Ironside attended Miss Ironside's School in Kensington, where her great-aunt was headmistress. [2]

Career

Ironside writes a column, "Dilemmas", for The Independent, an agony column for the Idler , and a monthly column for The Oldie . [3] Her first book, Chelsea Bird, was published when she was 19. During the 1960s she wrote a rock music column for the Daily Mail newspaper. [3] She is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. [4] [5]

Comments about abortion

Ironside received attention after her appearance on BBC One's religious discussion programme, Sunday Morning Live , in 2010. She stated "If a baby's going to be born severely disabled or totally unwanted, surely an abortion is the act of a loving mother" and added "If I were the mother of a suffering child – I mean a deeply suffering child – I would be the first to want to put a pillow over its face... If it was a child I really loved, who was in agony, I think any good mother would." [6] Though some viewers supported Ironside, many complaints were registered on the programme's website message board.

My Death My Decision

Ironside is a Patron of the right to die organisation, My Death My Decision. My Death My Decision is a right to die campaign organisation that wants to see a more compassionate approach to dying in the UK, including giving people the legal right to a medically assisted death if that is their persistent wish. [7] [ better source needed ]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Rayner</span> British writer (1931–2010)

Claire Berenice Rayner, OBE was an English journalist, broadcaster, novelist and nurse, best known for her role for many years as an advice columnist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katha Pollitt</span> American poet, essayist and critic (born 1949)

Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her writing focuses on political and social issues from a left-leaning perspective, including abortion, racism, welfare reform, feminism, and poverty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. C. Andrews</span> American novelist (1923–1986)

Cleo Virginia Andrews, better known as V. C. Andrews or Virginia C. Andrews, was an American novelist. She was best known for her 1979 novel Flowers in the Attic, which inspired two movie adaptations and four sequels. While her novels are not classified by her publisher as Young Adult, their young protagonists have made them popular among teenagers for decades. After her death in 1986, a ghostwriter who was initially hired to complete two unfinished works has continued to publish books under her name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advice column</span> Journalism genre

An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Smoker</span> British humanist (1923–2020)

Barbara Smoker was a British humanist activist and freethought advocate. She was also President of the National Secular Society (1972–1996), Chair of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society (1981–1985) and an Honorary Vice President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Phillips</span> English journalist and TV presenter (born 1961)

Fiona Phillips is an English journalist, broadcaster and television presenter. She is best known for presenting the ITV Breakfast programme GMTV Today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denise Robertson</span> British writer and television broadcaster

Denise Robertson was a British writer and television broadcaster. She made her television debut as the presenter of the Junior Advice Line segment of the BBC's Breakfast Time programme in 1985, though she is best known as the resident agony aunt on the ITV show This Morning from its first broadcast on 3 October 1988 until her death. In the course of her career, she dealt with over 200,000 letters from viewers seeking advice. In 2006 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting.

Susan Williams-Ellis was a British pottery designer, who was best known for co-founding Portmeirion Pottery. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis.

India Jane Birley is a British artist and businesswoman. Her father, Mark Birley, opened the private member's club Annabel's, named after her mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, in the early 1960s and Birley ran the club with her brother, Robin Birley, during her father's ill health in the 2000s. She later became estranged from her brother, and her father's estate was left to her to be placed in trust for her son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naming ceremony</span> Stage at which people are assigned names

A naming ceremony is a stage at which a person or persons is officially assigned a name. The methods of the practice differ over cultures and religions. The timing at which a name is assigned can vary from some days after birth to several months or many years.

Alberta Gay was the mother of five children including recording artists Marvin Gaye and Frankie Gaye. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, she married the minister Marvin Gay Sr., after relocating to Washington, D.C., in her early twenties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientology and abortion</span> Views and policies of Scientology on abortion

The intersection of Scientology and abortion has a controversial history which began with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's discussion of abortion in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard wrote in Dianetics that abortion and attempts at abortion could cause trauma to the fetus and to the mother in both spiritual and physical ways. Scientologists came to believe that attempted abortions could cause traumatic experiences felt by the fetus, which would later be remembered as memories referred to in Scientology as "engrams". In the Scientology technique called Auditing, Scientologists are frequently queried regarding their sexual feelings and behaviors. These questions about Scientologists' sexual behavior are often posed to members during "security checks", a specific form of auditing sessions where individuals are required to document their divergence from the organization's ethics. One of the questions asked in these security checks is, "Have you ever been involved in an abortion?".

My Death, My Decision (MDMD) is an organisation that campaigns for the legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales. The group was founded in 2009, in order to campaign for a change in the law and advocate on behalf of adults of sound mind, who are either terminally ill or incurably suffering.

Sheila Hodgers was an Irish woman from Dundalk, County Louth, who died of multiple cancers two days after giving birth to her third child. She was denied treatments for her cancer while pregnant because the Catholic ethos of the hospital did not wish to harm the foetus. Her case was publicised in an article in The Irish Times the week before a September 1983 referendum which enshrined the right to life of the foetus in the Constitution of Ireland. The case has been recounted in subsequent pro-choice commentary on abortion in the Republic of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janey Ironside</span> British professor of fashion

Janey Ironside was a British academic who was professor of fashion at London's Royal College of Art, a position she held from 1956 to 1968. She was a key figure in enabling fashion to be accepted as a valid academic subject in Britain. Described by her daughter Virginia as a "style icon", she died aged 60 after several suicide attempts and having suffered medical complications caused by alcoholism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frog (novel)</span> 2009 novel by Mo Yan

Frog is a novel by Mo Yan, first released in 2009. The novel is about Gugu, the aunt of "Tadpole", the novel's narrator. Gugu performs various abortions after the One Child Policy is introduced. The novel discusses both the reasons why the policy was implemented and its consequences.

Miss Ironside's School was a school at 2 Elvaston Place, in Kensington. The journalist John Walsh, writing in The Daily Telegraph, called it "legendary".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Byrne (broadcaster)</span> Irish broadcaster

Frankie Byrne was an Irish public relations consultant and broadcaster.

Margaret Leonora Eyles was an English novelist, feminist and memoirist. Captivity (1922) has been described by critics as "her strongest fictional expression of the chains that bind women, body and soul."

Diane Munday is a British political activist who, as a leading member of the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) from 1962 until 1974, played a prominent role in the decriminalisation of abortion in the United Kingdom with the Abortion Act 1967. She was also a co-founder of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. A longtime associate of the secular humanist movement, she has been named a patron of Humanists UK.

References

  1. "Virginia Ironside on Robin Ironside". Pallant House Gallery . Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  2. Ironside, Virginia (9 January 1995). "A funny little girl in socks and sandals". The Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 Karen Wilson (15 June 2011). "Virginia Ironside: From agony aunt to 'granny stand-up'". The Journal, Newcastle . Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  4. Virginia Ironside profile from website of the National Secular Society
  5. "Honorary Associates". www.secularism.org.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  6. "Abortion and euthanasia: Was Virginia Ironside right?". TheGuardian.com . 6 October 2010.
  7. "About Us - Who We Are".