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A biography of a speaker at the South West Housing Event

Polly Toynbee

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist and broadcaster and was formerly the BBC's social affairs editor.

Polly was born on the Isle of Wight. She read history at St Anne's College, Oxford but dropped out before completing her degree course. She went into journalism, and has also worked in television, being BBC editor for social affairs 1988-1995.

She has written for The Observer, The Independent and Radio Times; and edited The Washington Monthly USA.

Polly was the second daughter of the literary critic Philip Toynbee (by his first wife Anne), and so granddaughter of the historian Arnold J. Toynbee.

She has won a National Press Award and has been What the Papers Say columnist of the Year.

For much of 2002, Polly Toynbee took up the challenge of living in one of the worst council estates in Britain and taking whatever was on offer at the job centre. Published in February 2003, Hard Work: Life in Low-Pay Britain is a compelling, powerfully written and impassioned account of her experiences.