Jackie Forster
Encyclopedia
Jackie Forster was born 6 November 1926 and died in London on 10 October 1998. She married her novelist husband, Peter Forster in 1958 while she worked as a TV presenter and news reporter, but divorced him in 1962 when she realised her true sexual identity. She is noted for being an Actress, a TV Personality, a Feminist and a Lesbian campaigner.
and then to St Leonards School
in Fife. During the war
, she played Lacrosse
and Hockey
for Scotland.
Jackie became an actress and joined the Wilson Barrett
repertory company in Edinburgh before moving to London in 1950. She attended the London's Arts Theatre Club was in various West End productions and films before developing a successful career as a TV presenter and news reporter under the name of Jacqueline MacKenzie.
From 1957 she was on a lecuture tour in North America for part of the year and was in Savannah
, Georgia
, when she had her first lesbian affair. Despite this she married the author Peter Forster in 1958, but the marriage was over within two years as she accepted her true sexual identity. They divorced in 1962 and she went to live in Canada.
Quoting Jackie on her early lesbian experiences, she said 'I didn't see myself as being a Lesbian, or her, because I didn't look as I imagined they did, and nor did she. We weren't short back and sides and natty gent's suiting. I got the image from The Well of Lonliness
, like we all did. There were drug stores around the States, with these pulp books, lurid stories about lesbians who smoked cigars and had orgies with young girls. I thought, Where are these women? We never met anyone we knew were lesbians. There were no other books that I found about lesbians, no films that we ever saw: nothing at all'.
In 1964, Jackie returned to Britain to work for Border Television
; and then eventually moved in with a girlfriend and her children in London.
and wrote for its journal, Arena Three. She would also regularly promote the magazine in the Gateways club
.
Later on, she 'came out' publicly in 1969 when she joined the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
(CHE) and went to serve on its Executive Committee.
In 1970, she was a founder member of the Gay Liberation Front
(GLF) in London. She was on the first Gay Pride
march in the UK in August 1971.
In 1972 she was one of the founders of Sappho
, which was a social group and one of the UK's longest-running lesbian publications (Sappho magazine was published from 1972 to 1981, although the group continued to meet regularly for many more years). The Sappho group members used to meet in The Chepstow pub in Notting Hill and had public speakers such as Maureen Duffy
and Anna Raeburn
.
After Sappho, Jackie became a member of the a member of Greater London Council
's Women's Committee.
From 1992 till her death in 1998 she was an active member of the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre management Committee. In 1997 a BBC film crew came to the archive to film Jackie for a programme about her life which was to be part of 'The Day That Changed My Life' series. Her work has made a huge impact on shaping the archive.
You're Only Young Twice, 1952, film acting role as Nellie.
Love and Mr Lewisham, 1953, television acting role.
The Wedding of Lili Marlene, 1953, film acting role as Theatre Barmaid.
Serious Charge, 1953, repertory theatre acting role.
The Broken Jug, 1953, television acting role as Grete.
Gilbert Harding Finds Out, 1954, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Lilacs in the Spring, 1954, film acting role.
The Dam Busters
, 1955, film acting role as Canteen Waitress.
You Can't Escape, 1955, television acting role as Mrs Baggerley.
Grace Kelly's Monaco wedding to Prince Rainier, 1956, as straight-to-camera television reporter. Won a Prix D'Italia.
Pantomania or Dick Wittington, 1956, television comedy acting role.
Tonight, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Hotfoot and Highlight, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Panorama, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Late Night Extra, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Trouble for Two, 1958, television acting role in a sitcom.
Discovering America, 1958–1960, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Jacqueline Mackenzie In America, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Speak for Yourself, 1974 as television co-scriptwriter.
We Recruit, 1995, appearance in a Channel 4 television documentary about the Lesbian Avengers
.
From High Heels to Sensible Shoes, 1997, contributor to the BBC television series The Day That Changed My Life.BFI - From High Heels to Sensible Shoes
Early history
Jackie's father was a colonel in the Army Medical Corps and she spent her early years in India. When she was six, she was sent to boarding school in Britain at Wycombe AbbeyWycombe Abbey
Wycombe Abbey is an independent girls' boarding school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is academically one of the top schools in the United Kingdom, and the top girls' boarding school...
and then to St Leonards School
St Leonards School
St Leonards School, formerly St Leonards School for Girls, is an independent school, founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century....
in Fife. During the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she played Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
and Hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
for Scotland.
Jackie became an actress and joined the Wilson Barrett
Wilson Barrett
Wilson Barrett was an English manager, actor, and playwright.With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his success with melodrama, an instance being his production of The Silver King at the Princess's Theatre of London.The...
repertory company in Edinburgh before moving to London in 1950. She attended the London's Arts Theatre Club was in various West End productions and films before developing a successful career as a TV presenter and news reporter under the name of Jacqueline MacKenzie.
From 1957 she was on a lecuture tour in North America for part of the year and was in Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, when she had her first lesbian affair. Despite this she married the author Peter Forster in 1958, but the marriage was over within two years as she accepted her true sexual identity. They divorced in 1962 and she went to live in Canada.
Quoting Jackie on her early lesbian experiences, she said 'I didn't see myself as being a Lesbian, or her, because I didn't look as I imagined they did, and nor did she. We weren't short back and sides and natty gent's suiting. I got the image from The Well of Lonliness
Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness.- Life :...
, like we all did. There were drug stores around the States, with these pulp books, lurid stories about lesbians who smoked cigars and had orgies with young girls. I thought, Where are these women? We never met anyone we knew were lesbians. There were no other books that I found about lesbians, no films that we ever saw: nothing at all'.
In 1964, Jackie returned to Britain to work for Border Television
Border Television
Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
; and then eventually moved in with a girlfriend and her children in London.
Activism
In the 1960s she joined the Minorities Research GroupMinorities Research Group
The Minorities Research Group was the first organisation to openly advocate the interests of lesbians in the United Kingdom. It was founded by four women who got together in response to an article that was published in the magazine "Twentieth Century"...
and wrote for its journal, Arena Three. She would also regularly promote the magazine in the Gateways club
Gateways club
The Gateways club was a noted lesbian nightclub located at 239 Kings Road on the corner of Bramerton Street, Chelsea, London, England. It was the longest-surviving such club in the world, opening in 1930 and legally becoming a "members club" in 1936...
.
Later on, she 'came out' publicly in 1969 when she joined the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
Campaign for Homosexual Equality
The Campaign for Homosexual Equality is one of the oldest gay rights organisations in the United Kingdom. It is a membership organisation which aims to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales...
(CHE) and went to serve on its Executive Committee.
In 1970, she was a founder member of the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
(GLF) in London. She was on the first Gay Pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
march in the UK in August 1971.
In 1972 she was one of the founders of Sappho
Sappho (organisation)
Sappho was a UK lesbian social group founded in 1972 by Jackie Forster and others.Taking its name from the poet Sappho, it was both a social group, meeting at The Chepstow public house in London's Notting Hill every Tuesday, and also a long-running magazine until 1981, Sappho was one of the early...
, which was a social group and one of the UK's longest-running lesbian publications (Sappho magazine was published from 1972 to 1981, although the group continued to meet regularly for many more years). The Sappho group members used to meet in The Chepstow pub in Notting Hill and had public speakers such as Maureen Duffy
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy is a contemporary British poet, playwright and novelist. She has also published a literary biography of Aphra Behn, and The Erotic World of Faery a book-length study of eroticism in faery fantasy literature.-Life and work:After a tough childhood, Duffy took her degree in...
and Anna Raeburn
Anna Raeburn
Anna Raeburn is a British broadcaster and journalist who is famous for her role as an 'agony aunt' giving advice on life relationship and more general life problems. She is principally known for her work on Capital Radio in London....
.
After Sappho, Jackie became a member of the a member of Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
's Women's Committee.
From 1992 till her death in 1998 she was an active member of the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre management Committee. In 1997 a BBC film crew came to the archive to film Jackie for a programme about her life which was to be part of 'The Day That Changed My Life' series. Her work has made a huge impact on shaping the archive.
Television and Film Appearances
Caesar's Wife, 1951, television acting role.You're Only Young Twice, 1952, film acting role as Nellie.
Love and Mr Lewisham, 1953, television acting role.
The Wedding of Lili Marlene, 1953, film acting role as Theatre Barmaid.
Serious Charge, 1953, repertory theatre acting role.
The Broken Jug, 1953, television acting role as Grete.
Gilbert Harding Finds Out, 1954, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Lilacs in the Spring, 1954, film acting role.
The Dam Busters
The Dam Busters (film)
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
, 1955, film acting role as Canteen Waitress.
You Can't Escape, 1955, television acting role as Mrs Baggerley.
Grace Kelly's Monaco wedding to Prince Rainier, 1956, as straight-to-camera television reporter. Won a Prix D'Italia.
Pantomania or Dick Wittington, 1956, television comedy acting role.
Tonight, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Hotfoot and Highlight, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Panorama, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Late Night Extra, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Trouble for Two, 1958, television acting role in a sitcom.
Discovering America, 1958–1960, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Jacqueline Mackenzie In America, as straight-to-camera television reporter.
Speak for Yourself, 1974 as television co-scriptwriter.
We Recruit, 1995, appearance in a Channel 4 television documentary about the Lesbian Avengers
Lesbian Avengers
The Lesbian Avengers began in New York City in 1992 as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class.Though some groups continue...
.
From High Heels to Sensible Shoes, 1997, contributor to the BBC television series The Day That Changed My Life.BFI - From High Heels to Sensible Shoes
Trivia
- The Glasgow LGBT CentreGlasgow LGBT CentreThe Glasgow LGBT Centre was a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community centre located at 84 Bell Street, Glasgow G1 1LQ. It was fully wheelchair-accessible, with a chairlift. It closed in April 2009, following withdrawal of funding from Glasgow City Council...
have a meeting room named the Jackie Forster Memorial Room.
- She listed Hitch-hiking as one of her hobbies.