The Lady's ladies of 2012

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

DoB: 21 April 1926
In her Diamond Jubilee year, she’s now just three years shy of surpassing Queen Victoria to become our longest-reigning monarch.
Why we love her Where to start? She was magnificent during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations – despite the pouring rain – and won over crowds around the world. Unsurprisingly, she expressed her gratitude for the past 60 years with characteristic grace: ‘I will continue to treasure and draw inspiration from the countless kindnesses shown to me in this country and throughout the Commonwealth.’ And then there was the Olympics, and her star turn at the opening ceremony, ‘skydiving’ into the stadium with James Bond actor, Daniel Craig. Special mention must also go to Angela Kelly, the Queen’s Senior Dresser, whose beautiful designs kept Her Majesty impeccably dressed throughout.

DAME JUDI DENCH

DoB: 9 December 1934
The daughter of a wardrobe mistress, Judi’s love for the stage started young. She trained as a set designer before following her brother to the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she graduated with a fi rst-class degree. Her career spans more than five decades, garnering her a slew of accolades, including 10 BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards and one Academy Award. She was appointed a DBE in 1988.
Why we love her Esteemed actress, national treasure and regular cover star of The Lady, Dame Judi Dench’s popularity remains unrivalled. Along with roles in the popular films The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and My Week With Marilyn (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA) she made her seventh and last appearance in the Bond series in Skyfall.

MARY BERRY

DoB: 24 March 1935
Mary attended the Bath College of Home Economics followed by Le Cordon Bleu School in Paris. She has published more than 70 cookery books and fronted a number of cookery shows.
Why we love her She has once again inspired the nation to get busy in the kitchen with a hugely successful third series of The Great British Bake Off. She revealed that her expert judgement often demanded tasting up to 80 pieces of cake per episode, but she managed to retain her humour (and her waistline), giving kind words of encouragement throughout. She also became an unlikely fashion star, wearing a fl oral bomber jacket from Zara, which fl ew off the shelves after the episode aired.

ELLIE SIMMONDS

DoB: 11 November 1994 Ellie first showed a passion for swimming at the age of five. She was the youngest member of Team GB during the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing (she has achondroplasia) and Britain’s youngest MBE at the age of 14. She follows a rigorous nine-sessions-perweek training schedule, and was once again selected for the British squad this year.
Why we love her Not many 18-year-olds have already participated in two Paralympic Games. But this year, she achieved an incredible four medals: two Golds, a Silver and a Bronze. Heralded as an inspiration, her former school renamed its swimming pool in her honour, and two post boxes (one in her home town of Aldridge and another in Swansea) were painted gold to commemorate her medal wins.

DAME MAGGIE SMITH

DoB: 28 December 1934
Rising to prominence in the 1960s with regular roles at the National Theatre, Dame Maggie starred as Desdemona in Othello with Sir Laurence Olivier in both the stage and film productions. She has appeared in countless plays and series, including Cranford and Downton Abbey, and has collected two Oscars.
Why we love her Nothing eases Sunday-night blues like a pithy one-liner from Downton’s waspish Dowager Countess. Her sparkling soundbites include, ‘Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class,’ and ‘One way or another, everyone goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.’ In real life, Dame Maggie demonstrates largesse worthy of the Countess herself, adding the role of patron of the International Glaucoma Association to her many charitable endeavours.

HILARY MANTEL

DoB: 6 July 1952
After studying law at the London School of Economics and Sheffield University, Mantel was employed as a social worker, which took her to Botswana and Saudi Arabia. Returning to the UK in the mid-1980s, she was awarded the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize in 1987 for a feature about Jeddah. She was also a film critic for The Spectator in the 1980s before becoming a hugely successful novelist.
Why we love herHer novel Wolf Hall was the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. This year, the sequel, Bring Up The Bodies, won the 2012 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, making her the first woman and first British author to win the award twice.

THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE

DoB: 9 January 1982
She has become one of the most famous women in the world, but the former Miss Catherine Middleton had a comparatively ordinary upbringing. She attended Marlborough College and then St Andrews University, where she met Prince William.
Why we love her Well, the big news is that Her Royal Highness is expecting a baby, who, whether a girl or boy, will be third in line to the throne. But her first full year as a member of the Royal Family has been filled with successful official engagements, from charity events to a colourful tour of Asia and the South Pacific. Her sartorial choices also continue to inspire: she regularly tops the bestdressed lists, and can cause a dress to sell out within minutes. This really was the year she came of age.

JESSICA ENNIS

DoB: 28 January 1986
A British track and field athlete, she became Olympic heptathlon champion at the London 2012 Games – and a ‘poster girl’ for Team GB’s hugely successful games.
Why we love herComing back from a stress-fracture injury, and what she described as a disaster in 2008, Ennis, 26, had to relearn long jump, changing her take-off foot from right to left. Despite this, she set three personal bests and set a new British record when she scooped Gold at this year’s games.

ABI MORGAN

DoB: 1968 Born to an actress mother and a theatre director father, Abi initially intended to become an actress. She studied for a degree in drama and literature at Exeter University, then turned her attention to screenwriting, receiving her first writing credit for the ITV series Peak Practice.
Why we love herShe may not be a household name just yet, but Abi is behind some of this year’s most talked-about dramas. She has created box-office successes such as The Iron Lady and Shame, along with the lavish television adaptation of Birdsong. She is currently working on next year’s The Invisible Woman – a film about Charles Dickens’s secret mistress.

DARCEY BUSSELL

DoB: 27 April 1969
She was keen on sports at school and played football with the boys’ team, but Darcey’s flair for dance sent her to the Royal Ballet School, becoming Principal Dancer for The Royal Ballet at a young age. Before her retirement in 2007, she appeared in countless productions, including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. She was awarded an OBE in 1995 and a CBE in 2006.
Why we love herDarcey thrilled audiences when she stepped out of retirement to appear in the London Olympics closing ceremony. She has also been delighting dancing aficionados on the panel of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. Her warm personality and unrivalled expertise have made her a popular addition to the show, in which she holds her own against the three other male judges.

DOREEN LAWRENCE

DoB: 24 October 1952
After her son Stephen was murdered in 1993 by a gang in southeast London, Doreen has fought tirelessly for justice. She founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and in 2003 was awarded an OBE for services to community relations. She has been honoured by two London universities for her work.
Why we love herThis year finally saw the end of her extraordinary 19-year battle for justice after two of her son’s killers, David Norris and Gary Dobson, were finally jailed.

MAEVE BINCHY

DoB: 28 May 1940
The Irish novelist and playwright, Maeve is best known for her novels, which mainly depict the goingson in small-town Ireland. Outselling even fellow Irish writer Oscar Wilde, her novels have been translated into 37 languages, with her most popular, Circle Of Friends and Tara Road, also being adapted into films. Her last novel, A Week In Winter, was completed shortly before she died and is now published in the UK.
Why we love herMaeve’s books have kept us entertained for years – and we were all saddened by her death earlier this year. When once asked had she been lucky in life, she answered: ‘I have been luckier than anyone I know or even heard of… the stories I told became popular and people all over the world bought them. If anyone heard me complaining, I should be taken out and shot!’

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

DoB: 12 July 1997
A tireless women’s rights activist in the Swat District of Pakistan, Malala began to write a blog for the BBC about life under the Taliban – at the age of 11. But after appearing in a New York Times documentary, she started to become a name known worldwide.
Why we love herOn 9 October this year, while returning home from school, Yousafzai was shot in the head in a Taliban assassination attempt. She was sent to hospital in Peshawar and then on to the UK where she slowly began to recover – by November, she was pictured sitting up in bed. Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, has since launched a United Nations petition in her name, demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. There are also calls for her to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

ADELE

DoB: 5 May 1988
Born in Tottenham, London, Adele began singing at the age of four and attended the BRIT School For Performing Arts in her teens. She was offered a recording deal at the age of 16 after a record company discovered her demo track on social network site MySpace. Her debut album, entitled 19 (her age at the time), was released in 2008 and went straight to number one.
Why we love her Adele’s second album, 21, has racked up sales of more than 25 million copies, and she won six Grammy Awards at this year’s ceremony (equalling the record for the highest number of awards won by a female artist in one night). Her theme tune to Skyfall is her first new material since the success of 21.

CLARE BALDING

DoB: 29 January 1971
Since leaving university, Clare has worked on radio and television, becoming one of the nation’s leading sports presenters. London 2012 was her fourth Olympic Games TV broadcast, and the event that made her a much-loved household name.
Why we love herClare can turn her hand to any sport, which was as evident as ever at this year’s Games. In a commentating lineup that attracted some controversy for having too many enthusiasts and not enough experts, the former Cambridge graduate delivered to a Gold Medal standard. She has recently published her entertaining autobiography, My Animals And Other Family.

MARIE COLVIN

DoB: 12 January 1956
Marie got her first taste for journalism while studying American Literature at Yale, where she worked for the university newspaper. She went on to become one of the world’s most celebrated war reporters, losing her eye while covering the Sri Lankan civil war in 2001.
Why we love her Marie was a brave, determined and deeply committed journalist, often covering the stories few others would dare to touch. This year, she paid the ultimate price, losing her life during the siege of Homs in Syria.