Janie Hampton

Janie Hampton is the penultimate daughter of the author Verily Anderson and the playwright Donald Anderson. Her siblings include the author Rachel Anderson and the television producer Eddie Anderson.[1] She has been married since 1971 and has four children.[2]

While living on a small-holding in Shropshire in the 1970s[3] Hampton designed and made clothes that she sold in London, Los Angeles and Rome. Her customers included musician Robert Plant and author Louisa Young.[4]

In 1980 the Hamptons moved to Zimbabwe,[5] where she studied for a BA in Human Sciences,[6] wrote books and articles on health issues,[7][8] and was the Women's Editor of the Manica Post.[9] After her return to Britain in 1985, she produced The Medical Programme and Focus on Africa for the BBC World Service. In 1988 she gained an MSc in International Health from the Institute of Child Health, London. Her thesis was on the health and development of pre-school children, researched while living in the remote Honde Valley, Zimbabwe[10]

In 1991, the British Overseas Development Administration (now the Department for International Development) commissioned Hampton to help develop its policy on international women's health. She then planned health projects in Africa, South America and Asia.[11]

In 1992 Hampton was elected onto the founding committee of Writers in Oxford and became its chair in 2003.[12][13] As part of the 2001 Year of the Artist she was the first Arts Council-sponsored writer-in-residence in a pub.[14][15] She is an Associate Member of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.[16]

In 2009, Hampton, Jane Moore and Belinda Coote founded the Chauncy Maples Malawi Trust, which aimed to restore the ship MV Chauncy Maples into a mobile clinic for Lake Malawi.[17] Hampton resigned from the trust in 2013 after £2 million had been raised for the renovation of the ship.[18] In 2014, she became patron of the Malawi Association UK and represented Malawi as a guest of HM Queen at the Commonwealth Reception at Buckingham Palace.

In 2016 Hampton founded the World Menstrual Network [19] to connect activists, practitioners, politicians, researchers and individuals around the world working to improve menstrual health. With The Malawi Girl Guides Association, The Cup Effect Hampton ran a feasibility study in a refugee camp, secondary schools and a national park which showed that women and girls in Malawi want to use menstrual cups. Compared to washable cloths or disposable pads or tampons, they found cups more comfortable, cheaper and more environmentally sustainable. As a result, ActionAid Malawi[20] has begun a national menstrual cup programme.[21] Hampton promotes menstrual health through the media, including an essay for Aeon ideas website[22] and for World Menstrual Day.[23]

Hampton has written articles for various newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian,[24][25] Daily Telegraph,[26] The Times,[27] Independent,[28][29] Spare Rib,[30] Total Politics,[31] New Statesman,[32] Sunday Telegraph,[33] and The Author.[34][35] In 2011, she was appointed Olympics Correspondent of The Oldie magazine.[36]

Hampton writes a "History Girl" blog on the 27th of every month with articles on a range of subjects including Elizabeth Fry,[37] hammock exercise,[38] and great women such as Victorian novelist and philanthropist Felicia Skene.[39]

Hampton has been a journalist in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda[40] and was interviewed about the history of the Olympic Games in London on various radio stations and television channels, including BBC Breakfast[41] and Newsnight.[42]

Hampton has spoken at Cliveden House,[43] The Oldie literary luncheons,[44] The World Literacy Summit and many literary festivals.[45]

A Family Outing in Africa described the Hampton's journey from Zimbabwe to the UK via Zaire (on public transport with her three children) and was published by Macmillan in 1988. She continued to write about health issues throughout the 1990s and was also increasingly successful as an author of social history. In 2002, her biography of writer and actor Joyce Grenfell was published to critical acclaim.[46][47][48][49]

The Austerity Olympics, a social history of the London Olympics of 1948, was introduced by Sebastian Coe and quoted by many Olympic observers,[50] including Mayor of London Boris Johnson[51] and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.[52] The book was filmed by BBC TV as Bert and Dickie, starring Matt Smith and Geoffrey Palmer.[53]

How the Girl Guides Won the War chronicled the role of Guides and Brownies in 20th-century feminist history.[54][55] In 2018, Lionsgate of Hollywood obtained the rights to the book for a film, produced by Ryan Christians of Marc Platt Productions.[56] Hampton's latest two books are about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (Rationing and Revelry) and state visits by members of the British Royal Family (The Royal Tours).

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