Early life

Wendy moved with her twin sister Sara from her mother's house in St Annes on Sea to Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in the late 1960s to live with their father, a Jewish market trader. By the age of eighteen, she had a child.

In their youth, Henry and her sister were active socialists, joining the International Socialists and later the International-Communist League. In 1972, she was given an absolute discharge after being accused of attempting to throw a carton of milk at Edward Heath

Edward Heath

Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....

 when he visited Salford. Her involvement in radical activism at the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 was spotted by Brian Whittle, Brian Taylor and Peter Reece, who took her on at the Manchester News Service.

Career in journalism

In the 1970s, Henry had a six month trial with the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

, but was not given a permanent position at the end of the trial. She worked as a freelance before joining the features department of the News of the World

News of the World

The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...

, then became features editor of Woman

Woman (UK magazine)

Woman is a mainstream weekly title for 30- and 40-something women. Edited by Karen Livermore, it encompasses a mix of celebrity gossip and TV news, real-life stories, and body-confident fashion and beauty tips...

. She then became series editor of The Sun

The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

, followed by a stint as woman's editor, then assistant editor (features). According to Roy Greenslade

Roy Greenslade

Roy Greenslade is Professor of Journalism at City University London and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian....

, during the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

, when she heard that the General Belgrano had been sunk, she joked "Gotcha!

Gotcha!

Gotcha! is a barbershop quartet formed in 1996 by four members of the Masters of Harmony chorus.Gotcha! became International Champions of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2004 after six previous attempts at the international title....

", which was used by editor Kelvin MacKenzie

Kelvin MacKenzie

Kelvin Calder MacKenzie is an English media executive and former newspaper editor. He is best known for being editor of The Sun newspaper between 1981 and 1994, an era in which the paper was established as Britain's best selling newspaper.- Biography :MacKenzie was educated at Alleyn's School...

 as a famous Sun headline. In 1983, she was suspended for two weeks after fabricating an interview with Falklands veteran Simon Weston

Simon Weston

Simon Weston OBE is a former British Army soldier who became well known throughout the United Kingdom for his recovery and charity work after suffering severe burn injuries during the Falklands War.-Early life:...

. She was the first journalist to report that Princess Margaret was having a relationship with Roddy Llewellyn

Roddy Llewellyn

Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet is a British baronet, landscape gardener, gardening journalist, author and television presenter...

.

Newspaper editor

Henry was then promoted to editor of the News of the Worlds Sunday magazine, before being appointed editor of the newspaper in 1987. Although often described as the first female Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

 editor, she was preceded by Delarivier Manley

Delarivier Manley

Delarivier Manley was an English novelist of amatory fiction, playwright, and political pamphleteer...

, Rachel Beer

Rachel Beer

Rachel Beer was an Indian-born British newspaper editor. She was editor-in-chief of The Observer and The Sunday Times.-Biography:...

 and Mary Howarth

Mary Howarth (journalist)

Mary Howarth was a British newspaper editor.Howarth edited the women's column in the Daily Mail in the late 1890s. In November 1903, she was appointed as the first editor of the Daily Mirror....

.

In 1988, Henry moved to become editor of the Sunday People, where she was able to have more input into the leading articles. While there, she became known for publishing controversial pictures, including victims of the Sioux City air crash

United Airlines Flight 232

United Airlines Flight 232 was a scheduled flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, with continuing service to Philadelphia International Airport...

, an ailing Sammy Davis Jr and a seven-year-old Prince William urinating in public. Following the publication of the last two photographs (especially the Prince William one), she was fired. In 1990 she moved to the United States to become editor of The Globe

The Globe (tabloid)

Globe is a supermarket tabloid first published North America on November 10, 1954 in Montreal, Canada as Midnight by Joe Azaria and John Vader and became the chief competitor to the National Enquirer during the 1960s. In 1978 it changed its name to the Midnight Globe after its publisher, Globe...

.

Later career

In the mid-1990s, she produced A Current Affair on Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

. She then edited the "Spotlight" supplement of the New York Daily News

New York Daily News

The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

 from its launch, then edited Successful Slimming before returning to London to launch a British edition. She next worked for Parkhill Publishing alongside Eve Pollard

Eve Pollard

Evelyn "Eve" Pollard, Lady Lloyd, OBE is an English author, journalist and a former editor of several tabloid newspapers.-Career:...

, and spent a year editing Real Homes.

Henry became Press Officer for Battersea Dogs Home in 1997, and was later secretary to several committees at the centre. In 2002, she began working for them as a full-time dog re-socialiser. In 2004, she joined noSWeat journalism training as a "Professor of Anecdotes".