First female newsreader in vision

Nan Winton became the first woman to appear in vision while reading the BBC news on 20 June 1960. The news of this event, unremarkable today, was reported in the national press the following day and generated much discussion over the following months. The decision to place a female newsreader on screen was made partly in response to the challenge of commercial television, but was announced as an experiment.

Winton, who read three news summaries on her first day in front of the camera, was an experienced journalist who had worked on Panorama and Town and Around. She was thought to be serious enough to overcome the prejudice voiced in the media that said women were too frivolous to be the bearers of grave news. However, according to BBC Audience Research, viewers thought that a woman reading the late news was "not acceptable". By October, when the initial experiment ended, Winton had read the late bulletins seven times.

The first female newsreader to gain acceptance on the BBC was Angela Rippon, who became a regular presenter of the Nine O'clock News in 1975. Winton went on to work for ITV.