Sian Williams says colleagues were shocked that she was intelligent

Sian Williams, 57, reveals male BBC colleagues were shocked that she was intelligent despite not studying at Oxbridge

  • Sian Williams read English and History at what is now Oxford Brookes University
  • She joined The World At One and PM in 1990 and ‘felt she had to prove herself’
  • Ms Williams said two colleagues who went to Oxbridge were astounded that she and another woman were the brightest among them despite ‘humble beginnings’

Sian Williams said she was left feeling she had to prove herself and has since been awarded a doctorate of counselling psychology from City University of London while in her 50s

Sian Williams has revealed that male colleagues at the BBC were shocked that she was intelligent despite not studying at Oxbridge.

Dr Williams, who joined The World At One and PM in 1990, said two of her colleagues who had been to Oxford or Cambridge universities were astounded that she and another woman were the brightest among them despite their ‘humble beginnings’. 

The 57-year-old, who read English and History at what is now Oxford Brookes University, said she was working as a producer on Radio 4 news programmes when the comment was made.

5 News at 5 host Dr Williams – who was a regular presenter on BBC Breakfast between 2001 and 2012 – said she was left feeling she had to prove herself and has since been awarded a doctorate of counselling psychology from City University of London while in her 50s.

Speaking on the Blank podcast, Dr Williams said: ‘I came down to London and was working for Radio 4, I was working for [The] World At One and PM, current affairs programmes on Radio 4 and… they were very highbrow, still are actually.

‘And I remember when I joined the team as a down table, really junior producer, we all went out for a drink… There was me, who came from a polytechnic [Oxford Polytechnic], a girl who’d just joined and she hadn’t been to university at all.

‘She’d gone straight into print journalism which is kudos to her frankly because she had a lot more journalism experience than any of us.

The 5 News at 5 host – who was a regular presenter on BBC Breakfast between 2001 and 2012 – said she was working as a producer on Radio 4 news programmes when the comment was made

‘And anyway, there was a big group of people and they were all sitting around from The World At One and PM.

‘These two blokes looked me and Katie, this other girl who hadn’t been to a university, and… they were all Oxbridge and they went ”do you know what, I look at Katie and Sian and think sometimes I feel they’re the brightest among us”.

‘It was such a sort of ”how on earth could they be bright from their humble beginnings? How dare they not be from Oxford or Cambridge and actually have a sort of modicum of common sense?”

‘At every turn it felt like ”yeah you don’t quite belong so you’re going to have to fight for your place” and so there was a lot of fighting.

‘I do think actually that the reason I’ve done the number of qualifications that I have done – taking on a professional doctorate in my 50s – I think part of that is to turn around and say ”maybe it was there all along”.

‘Maybe it was that I hadn’t found my thing or I needed a bit more confidence.’

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