Clare Hollingworth: Who was the pioneering woman journalist in today’s Google Doodle?

Hollingworth is widely credited with getting the scoop of the century: the start of the Second World War.

At 27 years old, and just a few days into her first job in journalism, she travelled alone across the Germany-Poland border when she spotted a mass of troops preparing to invade.

Her story made the front page of the Daily Telegraph bearing the headline: “1,000 tanks massed on Polish border, 10 divisions reported ready for swift stroke.”

Three days later, war broke out.

The scoop earned Hollingworth the nickname “the doyenne of war correspondents” and kick-started a bold and storied career that lasted for decades.

Throughout WWII she defied rules that banned women, blazing a trail for future generations and reporting from a number of battle-zones.

After the Polish invasion she covered the Romanian revolution and the British North African campaign among other battles. 

When Allied forces captured Tripoli in 1943, Hollingworth was ordered to Cairo by British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, because he didn’t want women around. 

Never one to be ordered around, she instead got herself accredited with US forces in Algeria.

Later she reported on the fall of the Balkan states to communism and on Cold War espionage, including the case of Kim Philby, a British journalist and Soviet double agent. 

Hollingworth wrote for many publications in her career, including the Economist, the Guardian and the Daily Express.

She famously kept her passport at arm’s length at all times, just in case, and claimed to always travel with a pearl-handled revolver, her toothbrush and her typewriter.

But she once joked: “But don’t let anyone imagine I am brave, I am terrified of being stuck in lifts!”

Though much of her early work was not officially attributed to her, Hollingworth incredible efforts saw her win Woman Journalist of the Year, James Cameron Award for Journalism and a lifetime achievement award from What The Papers Say.

She spent her later years living in Hong Kong and worked as Far East correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph until the age of 70.

Hollingworth died earlier this year on January 10 at the grand age of 105.

Today’s Doodle shows Hollingworth furiously working at her typewriter, and marks what would have been her 106th birthday.

Google said: “Today’s  Doodle offers a glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s most inspirational and pioneering journalists, Clare Hollingworth.

“Daring in her approach, Hollingworth often said she was happiest roaming the world, traveling light, and ready for danger.

“This spirit led her reporting across the world, from working with Jewish refugees in Poland, to covering the Greek and Algerian civil wars, to being the first person to interview Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran.”