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Who is Women’s Hour presenter Emma Barnett and who’s her husband?

THE 35-year-old journalist and broadcaster has had a diverse career, discussing political issues she cares about and sharing her life in the form of columns.

Here is everything you need to know about BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour presenter.

 Emma writes a weekly column, entitled Tough Love, for The Sunday Times. The same publication where she had her first journalistic work experience
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Emma writes a weekly column, entitled Tough Love, for The Sunday Times. The same publication where she had her first journalistic work experienceCredit: BBC Handout

Who is Emma Barnett?

Emma Barnett was born in 1985 in Manchester. Her father was a local businessman who worked in commercial property the majority of his career, and her mother was a housewife.

An only child, Emma’s family are Orthodox Jews although she has said in the past that she does not actively practice.

She previously described her childhood in Manchester as wonderful, but had family problems later in life.

During her second year of university at Nottingham, Emma returned to Manchester to find her family home had been raided by police.

It was then that Emma discovered that her father, Ian Barnett, had suffered a dramatic financial change when she was aged 14 and this had driven him to become involved in illegal massage parlours.

 BBC Radio 5 Live is recorded in Emma’s home town of Manchester, she has previously revealed that she had to fight some demons in order to move back there from London
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BBC Radio 5 Live is recorded in Emma’s home town of Manchester, she has previously revealed that she had to fight some demons in order to move back there from LondonCredit: PR

Who is her husband?

Emma met her husband in university.

The pair have a baby together.

How did Emma Barnett become a journalist?

In 2006 she graduated Nottingham University having studied history and politics.

In 2012  she won the university’s Laureate Award for successful recent graduates.

Following university and a spell of work experience at The Sunday Times, Emma took a postgraduate course in journalism at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies.

In 2007 she started her career at Media Week and then moved on to The Telegraph in 2009.

At The Telegraph she became the paper’s first digital media editor and from 2012 she was the women’s editor for the paper.

During her time at the publication, she launched the award-winning site Telegraph Wonder Women.

The British Press Awards described the site –which covered politics, work, society, religion, relationships and more- as the “go-to site for young women in Britain”.

In March 2019, she became one of the regular presenters on BBC Two's Newsnight. In the same year, her book Periods: It's about bloody time was released, which covered her experience of suffering with endometriosis.

When was she announced as the presenter of Women's Hour?

Barnett was announced as the presenter of the BBC Radio 4's 45-minute women's programme Women's Hour in September 2020.

The journalist was already associated with the radio show, having presented its late-night spin-off, and regularly chairing the Woman's Hour Power List.

She first hosted the show at the age of 26, making her the youngest presenter in the radio programme's entire history.

Women's Hour is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, first launching in 1946.

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