Shelley Rohde dies

In 1954, while working for The Daily Express Shelley Rohde became the first female foreign correspondent assigned to Moscow when she was aged just 21,

She learned Russian and when former Russian premier Nikolai Bulganin and communist party chief Nikita Khrushchev visited Britain in the late 1950s she acted as an interpreter for the press pack. Her coverage of the Hungarian revolution is recorded in James Michener’s novel The Bridge at Andau. While journalists waited at the bridge to interview fleeing refugees, they heard a baby’s cry. Shelley risked being shot when she crossed the bridge and helped a family to safety. link

The author and broadcaster passed away on December 6 after a battle with cancer.