Rachel Johnson: Movies & Box Office

Rachel Sabiha Johnson (born 3 September 1965) is a British journalist, television presenter and author whose family background links her to several notable public figures. She was born in London, England to former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson and artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl, making her the younger sister of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the elder sister of former MP Jo Johnson. On her paternal side she descends from the Ottoman‑era journalist and politician Ali Kemal, whose second wife, Sabiha, gave her the middle name that means “morning” in Arabic. Johnson’s education was eclectic and international: after early schooling in north London she attended the European School of Brussels, Ashdown House, Bryanston and St Paul’s Girls’ School, before spending three months as a kibbutz volunteer in 1984. She then read Classics (Literae Humaniores) at New College, Oxford, where she edited the student paper Isis, laying the groundwork for a career in media and public discourse.

Since joining the Financial Times in 1989 as its first female graduate trainee, Johnson has built a multifaceted career that bridges print, broadcast and politics. After a stint at the Foreign Office policy‑planning staff, she moved to the BBC in 1994, later working from Washington, D.C. as a columnist and freelancer. She has contributed weekly columns to The Mail on Sunday, The Spectator, The Sunday Telegraph and numerous other publications, while also presenting on Sky News’ The Pledge and BBC’s Question Time. Johnson edited the historic magazine The Lady from 2009 to 2012, an experience documented in a Channel 4 film. As an author she has published satirical novels such as Notting Hell and Shire Hell, the latter earning the 2008 Bad Sex in Fiction Prize. Politically, she has shifted from the Conservative Party (2008‑2011) to the Liberal Democrats (2017‑2019) and briefly to Change UK in 2019, describing the latter venture as a “rat that jumped onto a sinking ship”. Married to Ivo Dawnay since 1992, the couple have three children and split their time between Notting Hill and Exmoor.