Fay Maschler

{{short description|British journalist (born 1945)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Fay Maschler

| birth_name = Fay Goldie Coventry

| birth_place =British India

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|7|15|df=y}}

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}

| spouse = {{plainlist|

• {{marriage|Tom Maschler|1970|1987|end=div}}
• {{marriage|Reg Gadney|1992|2018|end=d}}

}}

}}

Fay Goldie Maschler {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (née Coventry; 15 July 1945) is a British journalist who was the restaurant critic of London's Evening Standard newspaper for nearly 50 years. She won a contest for the position in 1972, when her tenure was supposed to last for three months.{{citation |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/queen-of-the-restaurant-scene-fay-maschler-turns-70-10396913.html |title=Queen of the restaurant scene: Fay Maschler turns 70 |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=17 July 2015 |author=Richard Godwin}} In December 2020, the Evening Standard announced that Maschler would leave the role of its chief restaurant critic after 48 years, to be succeeded by Jimi Famurewa, but would continue as a contributor.{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/reveller/restaurants/fay-maschler-next-course-evening-standard-restaurant-critic-b230115.html|title=Fay Maschler's next course after 48 years as the Evening Standard's chief restaurant critic|work=Evening Standard|last=Ellis|first=David|date=9 December 2020|access-date=10 December 2020}} She was subsequently appointed restaurant critic of Tatler magazine.{{Cite news|url=https://www.tatler.com/article/fay-maschler-appointed-restaurant-critic-tatler|title=Fay Maschler is appointed restaurant critic of Tatler|work=Tatler|last=Sampson|first=Annabel|date=9 December 2020|access-date=10 December 2020}}

Maschler was born in British India and moved to Surrey, England in 1947.{{cite news |title=How We Met |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-5635475.html |access-date=20 December 2020 |work=The Independent |date=18 September 2011 |language=en}} When she was 12, her family moved to Old Greenwich, Connecticut, where she learned to cook.{{cite news |title=Bring it on, boys |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/jun/12/foodanddrink.features2 |access-date=20 December 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=12 June 2005 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Maschler |first1=Fay |title=Smoke without fire |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/restaurants/smoke-without-fire-7428779.html |access-date=20 December 2020 |work=Evening Standard |date=19 February 2003 |language=en}} She was married to the publisher Tom Maschler from 1970 to 1987.{{citation |page=652 |title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2011 |isbn=9781403939104}}{{cite web |title=Tom Maschler obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/16/tom-maschler-obituary |website=The Guardian |date=16 October 2020 |accessdate=19 October 2020}} She was latterly married to Reg Gadney, the thriller writer and painter; he died in early May 2018.{{cite news |title=Obituary – Reg Gadney|editor-last=Witherow|editor-first=John |work=The Times |issue=72567 |date=21 June 2018 |page=54|issn=0140-0460}} She and Tom Maschler had three children, Ben, Hannah and Alice; they were divorced in 1987 and he died in 2020.

In 2004, Maschler was awarded an MBE for services to journalism. Two photographic portraits of Maschler are held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.{{cite web |title=Fay Maschler - Person - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp09857 |website=National Portrait Gallery, London |accessdate=19 October 2020}}