Ann Elizabeth Mary (Leslie) Fletcher (1941-2023)

Dame Ann Elizabeth Mary Fletcher formerly Leslie

Born 28 Jun 1941 in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, British India

Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died 25 Jun 2023 at age 81 [location unknown]

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Profile last modified 15 Dec 2023 | Created 9 Dec 2023

This page has been accessed 29 times.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Family
- 1.2 Achievements
2 Sources

Biography

This profile is part of the Fletcher Name Study.

Ann Elizabeth Mary Leslie an apparently fearless reporter, a forthright commentator and pundit, and a storyteller of wit and originality was born on 28 June 1941 in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, British India to British parents.

Ann died on 25 June 2023, aged nearly 82.

Family

Spouse: Michael Fletcher m. 1969

Daughter: Katharine Fletcher

Achievements

Ann Leslie, the doyenne of women reporters, was a star writer for the Daily Mail for over three decades and regularly appeared as a witty and forthright contributor to numerous television and radio programmes (including 'Question Time' and 'Any Questions'). She was created a Dame of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year's Honours List.

She reported from over seventy countries, sauntering confidently through wars and civil disorders (clad in full makeup and false eyelashes), and bringing back reports which have won her numerous awards. When the Media Society in 1997 gave her their Lifetime Achievement Award the citation noted that she was only the third person to receive the honour: ‘the two previous winners were Sir Alistair Cooke and Sir David Attenborough’. It praised her ‘special ability to give readers personality, style and substance in every article she writes.’

In the Reuters/Press Gazette launch of the Newspaper Hall of Fame she was listed as one of the forty most influential journalists in the last forty years. In David Randall’s book The Great Reporters (celebrating the 13 greatest British and American journalists of all time), the author profiled Ann Leslie as ‘the most versatile reporter ever.'