Clare Hollingworth
Encyclopedia
Clare Hollingworth is a British journalist and author who is noted as the first war correspondent
to report the outbreak of World War II.
when she was sent to Poland to report on worsening tensions in Europe. Hollingworth persuaded the British Consul-General in Katowice
, John Anthony Thwaites
, to lend her his chauffeured car for a fact-finding mission into Germany. While driving along the German-Polish border, Hollingworth chanced upon a massive build-up of Nazi German troops, tanks and armoured cars facing Poland. The following morning Hollingworth called the British embassy in Warsaw to report the German invasion of Poland. To convince doubtful embassy officials, Hollingworth held a telephone out of her room window to capture the sounds of German forces. Hollingworth's eyewitness account was the first report the British Foreign Office
had about the invasion of Poland
.
During the following decades, Hollingworth reported on conflicts in Palestine, Algeria, China, Aden
and Vietnam.
In 1946 she was among the survivors of the King David Hotel bombing
in Jerusalem that killed 91 people.
She is the author of five books: Poland's Three Weeks' War (1940); There's a German Right Behind Me (1945); The Arabs and the West (1950); 'Mao' (1985); and her memoirs, Front Line (1990, updated with Neri Tenorio in 2005).
Since the early 1980s, Hollingworth has lived in Hong Kong. She is a near-daily visitor to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong, where she is an honorary goodwill ambassador. She celebrated her 100th birthday there on 10 October 2011.
In 2006 Hollingworth sued her financial manager, fellow Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club member Thomas Edward Juson (also known as Ted Thomas), for the removal of nearly $300,000 from her bank account. Juson defended his actions as investments, but agreed to repay the money in 2007. He has not yet done that. Hollingworth turned 100
in October 2011.
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
to report the outbreak of World War II.
Career
On 31 August 1939, Hollingworth had been working as a journalist for less than a week for The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
when she was sent to Poland to report on worsening tensions in Europe. Hollingworth persuaded the British Consul-General in Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
, John Anthony Thwaites
John Anthony Thwaites
John Anthony Thwaites was a British art critic and author, who lived and worked in West Germany from 1946.- Biography :Thwaites studied history at the universities of Lausanne and Cambridge. From 1931 he was a member of the British Foreign Service, and worked until 1943 as a British vice-consul in...
, to lend her his chauffeured car for a fact-finding mission into Germany. While driving along the German-Polish border, Hollingworth chanced upon a massive build-up of Nazi German troops, tanks and armoured cars facing Poland. The following morning Hollingworth called the British embassy in Warsaw to report the German invasion of Poland. To convince doubtful embassy officials, Hollingworth held a telephone out of her room window to capture the sounds of German forces. Hollingworth's eyewitness account was the first report the British Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
had about the invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
.
During the following decades, Hollingworth reported on conflicts in Palestine, Algeria, China, Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
and Vietnam.
In 1946 she was among the survivors of the King David Hotel bombing
King David Hotel bombing
The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...
in Jerusalem that killed 91 people.
She is the author of five books: Poland's Three Weeks' War (1940); There's a German Right Behind Me (1945); The Arabs and the West (1950); 'Mao' (1985); and her memoirs, Front Line (1990, updated with Neri Tenorio in 2005).
Personal life
Hollingworth was married twice. She married Vandeleur Robinson in 1936 and they divorced in 1951. She then married Geoffrey Hoare in 1951. Hoare died in 1965. Hollingworth has one stepdaughter from her second marriage.Since the early 1980s, Hollingworth has lived in Hong Kong. She is a near-daily visitor to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong, where she is an honorary goodwill ambassador. She celebrated her 100th birthday there on 10 October 2011.
In 2006 Hollingworth sued her financial manager, fellow Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club member Thomas Edward Juson (also known as Ted Thomas), for the removal of nearly $300,000 from her bank account. Juson defended his actions as investments, but agreed to repay the money in 2007. He has not yet done that. Hollingworth turned 100
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
in October 2011.