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Journalist who got big break due to war dies aged 92

A journalist who got her big break after male colleagues were called up to serve in the Second World War has died aged 92.

Vera Wood worked for the Southern Publishing Company, whose titles included Brighton daily The Argus.

Vera had began at the company after leaving school at the age of 14, working her way up from the phones to transcribing news from ticker tape.

But when war was declared a month after she started, she got the chance to break into the then male-dominated world of reporting.

Vera Wood on her wedding day with husband Gordon

Vera Wood on her wedding day with husband Gordon

An obituary in The Argus states: “With much of the male workforce called up to serve and the paper short-staffed, Vera was given the chance to write film reviews and saw her name in print for the first time.

“She went on to cover everything from entertainment news to court reporting.

“One of her famous stories was the day she went to court but wasn’t allowed in the court room because it was a homosexuality charge, which was still illegal then, and being female it wasn’t deemed appropriate for her to hear the details.”

Vera married her husband Gordon, a proof reader at the company who went on to work in London for the Daily Express and Evening News, in 1944.

Vera worked part-time during her first pregnancy, but with Gordon commuting to London and family life taking over she reluctantly left her job at the paper.

Vera died on 2 January, and her funeral was held at St Peter’s Church, in Hove, on 12 January.

She is survived by six children, 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.