Madeline Linford (whose short story was reprinted in the last Biannually, and we shall republish one of her five novels in the near future) was a courageous foreign correspondent who went to typhus-ridden Poland in 1919 to report on the postwar humanitarian crisis there; she also pioneered film reviews. In 1922, when the women’s page was launched, she became its editor, the sole woman on the editorial staff. 'My briefing was lucid and firm. The page must be readable, varied and always aimed at the intelligent woman.' Miss Linford, as she was known to all, paved the way for the trailblazing writers who would find a home on the Guardian's women's page.

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