Eve Pollard

Early life and education

Pollard was born in Paddington, London.

In her early years Pollard (then known as Pollak) lived in Maida Vale, London, with her Jewish parents Izzo and Martha; and younger twin brothers, Peter and Ralph Pollak, who now live in Southern California in the United States. Her mother had left Austria in 1938 and her Hungarian father arrived with the Free French in 1940.

She attended a girls' grammar school in London where she developed a love of journalism.

Career

Her career began at Honey magazine, where she eventually became fashion editor in 1967. She moved to the Daily Mirror the following year.

In 1985, she was launch editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in the US and edited Sunday magazine for the News of the World and You magazine for the Mail on Sunday. She has also worked in television as features editor of TV-am (1982–1983) and devised Frocks on the Box, which ran for two 13-part series in the 1980s, for the ITV contractor TVS. She has often appeared on radio and TV and was a regular participant in Through the Keyhole. In 2003 Pollard was a guest panellist on the talk show Loose Women.

In 1992, she founded Women in Journalism. She was the first Chair and is still the Honorary President of the organisation, which advises members on networking, campaigning and training. In 2003, she became the Vice-Chairman of Wellbeing of Women, a charity dedicated to improving the health of women and babies in the UK.

In 2016, she was appointed the first Chair of Reporters without Borders in the UK. In June 2019, she was awarded the prestigious Journalist Laureate prize by the London Press Club. She was given the accolade for being an inspirational editor and broadcaster.

She has been a member, appointed in 1999, of the Competition Commission’s Newspaper Takeover Panel.