Audrey Russell

Muriel Audrey Russell, (29 June 1906 – 8 August 1989) was a BBC Radio journalist (then called a "commentator"), the BBC's first female news reporter, and, in 1944, the first accredited female war reporter.

Russell was born in Dublin on 29 June 1906, to Muriel (née Metcalfe) and John Strangman Russell. Her father was director of his family's woollen mill. after being discovered by them when interviewed about her wartime work for the National Fire Service. She also gave commentary on the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. In 1967, she was granted the freedom of the City of London, and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the 1976 Birthday Honours. Her autobiography, A Certain Voice, was published in 1984. She died of Alzheimer's disease in Woking, Surrey, on 8 August 1989. An obituary, calling here the "grande dame of radio's vintage years", was published in The Times.

Her World War II military uniform (though non-combatants, war correspondents held military rank) is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.