Helen Osborne

{{Short description|British journalist and critic}}

{{For|the American religious sister|Helen Rose Dawson}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:JohnOsborne.jpg

Helen Osborne (11 March 1939 – 12 January 2004) was a British journalist and critic, and the fifth wife of the playwright John Osborne.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1451577/Helen-Osborne.html |title=Helen Osborne |publisher=Telegraph |date=2004-01-14 |access-date=2016-05-06}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2004/helen-osborne/ |title=Helen Osborne | Obituaries |newspaper=The Stage |access-date=2016-05-06}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/helen-osborne-37842.html |title=Helen Osborne | Obituaries | News |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=2016-05-06}}

She was born Helen Dawson, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and educated at The Mount School, York, and Durham University, where she received a bachelor's degree in History.{{cite news|last1=Coveney|first1=Michael|title=Helen Osborne|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jan/19/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|access-date=6 May 2016|work=The Guardian|date=9 January 2004}}

She worked at The Observer for the arts editor Richard Findlater, becoming drama critic and then arts editor.

In Clive James' memoir of this period, North Face of Soho, James says of Osborne (nee Dawson), she "was clearly the brains of the outfit. Her tongue was keen to match. Even when she approved of what I said, she spoke as if I were trying to sell her a used car, and she met any loose opinion with plain scorn. Her level of aggression was rare for a woman in an English context, and would have been rare for a leopard in an African context."