A BBC newsreader has announced she is leaving Britain for China, because she feels there is a “culture of ageism” at the corporation, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Susan Osman, 51, has worked on the BBC News Channel, BBC World and on Points West, the regional news programme for the south-west.

Her decision comes two months after reports that the BBC was actively seeking to recruit a female presenter over the age of 50.

Earlier this year, Up To Speed gave details of the university backgrounds of many of the women who front the news as evidence that female British newsreaders certanly don’t deserve to be dismissed as so-called “auto-cuties”.

Today we’ve added to that research by giving the ages of 20 of the most successful female newsreaders. The average age is just over 40.  The authority, gravitas and appeal of newsreaders can have an important impact on the ratings used to judge the success of the programmes they present. And so, we thought it would also thought it would be interesting to run a poll of the twenty people on our list to see who you think is Britain’s Best Female Newsreader.