 Between school and university she was editorial assistant and writer on the magazine "Books and Bookmen" which she later went on to edit.While at Oxford she edited Isis, won the Vogue Talent Contest for writing in 1972 and the Radio Times Young Journalist of the Year competition along with a Catherine Pakenham Award and wrote for "The Times".She worked on "The Illustrated London News" then became assistant editor of "Plays and Players" in 1976.