My friend and former colleague Judith Dawson, who has died aged 67 of cancer, was, in the words of her partner, Louise Osmond, “best friend, best fun, best ranter, best raver”. And so say I; and so say all of her many friends.
Judith was perhaps best known as a distinguished senior political correspondent on Sky News, but I met her when she worked as a producer and then political correspondent at Independent Radio News. I fell in love with her voice, which was dark brown and hinted at a life both adventurous and romantic.
She was an excellent journalist, good enough never to allow her socialist beliefs to interfere with her reporting. After Sky came a spell making a string of documentaries – including a brilliant, award-winning film called Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance (2015), about a Welsh barmaid who bred a horse that went on to win the Welsh Grand National, and on which Louise was a director.
Judith was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, to Ian, a boatbuilder, and his wife, Consuelo (nee Fisk), an accountant. She attended Hamilton girls’ high school and at the age of 18 in 1970 left for Britain on her own to study pathology at Bristol University. However, she dropped out of the course after a period of poor health and instead took up journalism.
Her first job in that field was with LBC radio in London in the late 70s, and she joined Independent Radio News in the 80s before being hired by Sky News when it started up in 1989. Starting out as a political correspondent, she was soon promoted to a senior role and left in 1999 to become a documentary maker. Her work included a three-part series based on Alastair Campbell’s diaries for BBC1 and films with Michael Portillo about the missing people of the Spanish civil war.
Judith’s life was far more than work, and over lunch, with a few glasses of wine, her intellect and sense of humour always shone through. An avid reader, she would often peruse a novel while walking along the street; a habit that once led her into the Regent’s Canal. At the end of her illness there still lay on her bed copies of the Guardian and the New Statesman, alongside the latest novel that had taken her eye.
Jude’s style and sense of humour never faltered, and even in her last days Brexit produced one of the elegant outbursts of passion in which she specialised. The fire was undiminished and the laugh was as infectious as ever.
She and Louise met in Luxembourg while covering a meeting about the future of Britain in Europe. They were together for 26 years and joined in civil partnership in 2008.
Judith is survived by Louise and by her brother, Michael, and sister, Sue.
