Louise Botting

(Elizabeth) Louise Botting CBE (born 19 September 1939) was presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Money Box programme between 1977 and 1992. After her broadcasting career, she became one of the first female directors of a FTSE-100 company, CGU (now Aviva). In 1974, she founded the wealth management firm Douglas Deakin Young, serving as its Managing Director and then Chairman until the firm was sold to Duncan Lawrie in 2003. Over the years, she has had a large portfolio of business interests.

Early life and professional career

Botting was born into a middle class family, attending the local grammar school, Sutton Coldfield County High School. In spite of her strong academic ability, she elected not to follow her two brothers to Oxford University and instead attended the London School of Economics.

After graduating, in 1961, she joined the British merchant bank Kleinwort Benson as one of their first female analysts. Her marriage to the writer and explorer Douglas Botting led to a career break as she gave birth to her two daughters, Kate and Anna Botting (now a newsreader with Sky News). Her journalistic career started in 1970 when she started writing for the Daily Mail. She started broadcasting with British Forces Broadcasting in 1971 and continued to do this until 1981.

In 1974, she established the wealth management firm Douglas Deakin Young, with the businessman George Douglas and James Deakin, a GP who believed that many people suffered from stress as a result of making financial decisions. Her initial role was Managing Director, until her succession by Alan Warner in 1982, when she became Chairman. She remained in this role until the firm was sold to Duncan Lawrie in 2003.

BBC Radio 4 Money Box

In 1977, she was asked to be the founding presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Money Box. The aim of the programme was to make sensible personal financial advice available to ordinary people. The programme covered a broad range of investment and tax issues, as well as covering major changes in social security. The popularity of the programme increased, attracting up to three million listeners each week. The political influence of the programme was highlighted by the fact that each week, the Prime Minister’s office asked to know the proposed content in advance.

By 1992, Botting wished to pursue other business interests and was asked to join the board of London Weekend Television. This appointment was unpalatable to the BBC and Botting decided to resign from the programme. She was succeeded by Alison Mitchell.

After BBC Radio 4 Money Box

Botting has pursued many other business interests. In addition to Douglas Deakin Young and London Weekend Television, she served as non-executive director of CGU (now Aviva). She still remains a director of national lottery operator Camelot.

She also acted as a member of the Top Salaries Review Body between 1987 and 1994, and was rewarded by Sir John Major for her work and for services to journalism with a CBE.

Her interests have also extended to local radio, with ownership of a number of different stakes and her Chairmanship of her local station. After the sale of Douglas Deakin Young in 2003 to Duncan Lawrie, she stepped down as Chairman and now acts as a Consultant.

Personal life

After her divorce from writer and explorer Douglas Botting, she married Leslie Carpenter who at the time was Chief Executive Officer of the FTSE-100 firm Reed International (now Reed Elsevier). They live together in the Cotswolds.

Her daughter Anna Botting also pursued a career in journalism and is now a newsreader with Sky News, and her other daughter Kate is a documentary maker. Her brother John Young CBE is former Chief Executive Officer of the Securities & Futures Authority and the Securities & Investment Board (both now part of the UK financial services regulator, the Financial Services Authority).

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/default.stm BBC Radio 4 Money Box website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/2097870.stm BBC Radio 4 Money Box 25th Anniversary Programme]
* [http://www.ddy.co.uk/Staff/lbo.htm Profile on Douglas Deakin Young website]
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,,675529,00.html Article in Observer, March 2002]