Clare Hollingworth 1930s
Clare Hollingworth, who died this year aged 105, was one of the most active war correspondents of the 20th century.
In 1938, Clare worked for a charity in Europe and helped 2000-3000 refugees escape from the Nazis, until her work was shut down in July 1939.
Later in 1939, whilst working for the Daily Telegraph, she witnessed Nazi tanks gathering at the German-Polish border ready to enter Poland. This, her most famous front page report was headlined “1,000 tanks massed on Polish border. Ten divisions reported ready for swift strike” and broke the news of the outbreak of the second world war.
So began an extraordinary career that saw Clare Hollingworth report on many of the biggest war stories of the 20th century.
Clare Hollingworth
After the Russian army entered Poland in September 1939, Clare moved to Bucharest and worked for the Daily Express. In the early 1960s, she covered the Middle East for the Economist and the Observer, winning the Hannen Swaffer award for Woman Journalist of the Year and the What The Papers Say award for the best news reporting of the year.
Clare moved to Paris for the Guardian, and later to Beirut. She returned to the Daily Telegraph in 1967 and was posted to China in 1973, remaining in Asia for the rest of her life.
Clare thrived on danger believing that the more dangerous the assignment the better the story. She embarked on more trips, for longer and under more dangerous conditions, than any other female reporter.
Clare died in January 2017 aged 105.