Barbara Hall

Who is Barbara Hall?

Barbara Hall was born on 3 February 1923 in Derby, England. She was the Crossword Puzzles Editor for the Sunday Times until she retired near Christmas 2010. She edited and set the puzzles for the Sunday Times for over 36 years, making her Britain's longest serving crossword compiler

She published her first crossword in the Evening News in 1938 when she was only 15 years old. She was briefly a railway clerk at the outbreak of the second world war, whilst studying for entry to London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, before entering the armed services in 1940. She worked in the coding offices, serving on England's east coast with the Women's Royal Naval Service, including for a time at the Borstal naval depot in Cookham, Kent. After the end of the war she married the journalist Richard Hall, whom she had met during her time in the Navy, whilst he was also working as a decoder at Borstal.

The Halls, with 4 small boys, moved to Africa in the mid 1950s, where she and Richard founded the Central African Mail newspaper. Her advice column, Tell me Josephine, was one of the paper's most popular features. She gave birth to her 5th son whilst in Zambia, before returning to live in the UK in 1967.