Nan Winton

Nan Winton is a British broadcaster, best known for being the first female national newsreader on BBC television.

She was a BBC TV continuity announcer from 1958–61 and also an experienced journalist who had worked on Panorama and Town and Around.[1] She was given the job to read the 6pm news and weekend bulletins on Sunday evenings, due to pressure from rivals ITN, who had had a female newscaster, Barbara Mandell, since its launch in 1955.

She began on 19 June 1960, but BBC Audience research concluded that viewers thought a woman reading the late news was "not acceptable"[1] and she was removed from the role in March 1961.[2] She remained the only woman to have read the national news on BBC TV until 1975, when Angela Rippon began a much longer spell as a newsreader.

After stepping down from reading the news, Winton remained a TV and radio news reporter and interviewer. She was also a regular panelist on the radio panel game, Treble Chance. She was formerly married to actor Charles Stapley who had appeared as Ted Hope in Crossroads.