People described my friend Brenda Horsfield, who has died at the age of 88, as a force of nature. A willowy six-footer with a mane of fair hair, she was never shy of sharing her sometimes idiosyncratic opinions. She had a distinguished career as a BBC television producer, flew aircraft with the Women’s RAF Volunteer Reserve and was an expert glider pilot. She affected an aristocratic hauteur which masked a surprising degree of vulnerability and insecurity.
Born in Wallington, Surrey, Brenda was the daughter of Reginald Barnard, a civil servant, and his wife, Margaret (nee MacFarlane). After Reginald’s death in 1932, Margaret played the piano for silent movies; she remarried to a pilot, Derrick Horsfield, in 1936, and Brenda and her younger sister, Carson, both adopted the name Horsfield.
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