THOMPSON, Margot 1914-2003 (Margot Lawrence)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 29, 1914, in Wallasey, Cheshire, England; died December 19, 2003. Journalist and author. Thompson, who published under the pen name Margot Lawrence, was a respected journalist and nonfiction writer who later in life became prominently involved with the Prayer Book Society. After attending the Hen-rietta Barnett School, she began a career writing for periodicals such as Home Chat and Film Pictorial, gaining notice in 1937 for being the first journalist to get an exclusive interview with director Alfred Hitchcock. During World War II, she worked with the Friends Relief Service, and after the war she returned to journalism as a staff member of Reynolds News. Continuing to write for magazines like Good Housekeeping and the Journal of Contemporary History, her experience led to the editorship of London Diary in 1972, which she edited until 1988. Beginning in 1982, Thompson became involved in the Prayer Book Society, which campaigned to keep the Book of Common Prayer as the liturgy for the Church of England. She helped bring publicity to this cause and served as honorary secretary of the organization from 1987 until 1997. Thompson was also the author of several books, including Shadow of Swords: A Biography of Elsie Inglis (1972), Flyers and Stayers: The Book of the World's Greatest Rides (1980), and Sail the Fierce Wind (2001). Her work about Elsie Inglis and other writings about the war in Serbia during World War I earned her the Order of St. Sava from the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch and Bishops in 1991.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Daily Telegraph, December 29, 2003.

Times (London, England), January 15, 2004, p. 36.