My wife, Victoria Smillie, who has died aged 75, was a force of nature. In 1972, under her earlier married name of Lesley Mitchell, she was one of five women (nicknamed the “Watford Five”) invited by the Women in Media group to take on the task of presenting the “acceptable” face of feminism and women’s liberation in lobbying both the media and MPs for the passing of the sex discrimination bill.
The five (the others were Eileen Vielvoye, Rosemary Todd, Blanche McCorkell and Pat Howe) were friends who met in Watford to discuss feminism and women’s liberation matters and came to wider attention when they were interviewed by the Daily Mirror journalist Marjorie Proops. Then Shirley Conran, who was doing publicity for Women in Media, got in touch and became their campaign manager.
