Helen Osborne

Helen Osborne was a British journalist and critic, and the fifth wife of the playwright John Osborne.
She was born Helen Dawson, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and educated at The [Mount School, York], and Durham University, where she received a bachelor's degree in history.
She worked at The Observer for the arts editor Richard Findlater, becoming drama critic and then arts editor.
In Clive James' memoir of this period, North [Face of Soho], James says of Osborne, she "was clearly the brains of the outfit. Her tongue was keen to match. Even when she approved of what I said, she spoke as if I were trying to sell her a used car, and she met any loose opinion with plain scorn. Her level of aggression was rare for a woman in an English context, and would have been rare for a leopard in an African context."