This is Debbie’s account of her life so far:

I was born in Glasgow in 1958, the oldest of three children. My parents moved south while I was still very young, and I spent my formative years in the north of England. At 17 I left school and did some low-paid, boring jobs (I worked in a hospital laundry and then as a bank clerk). This experience had two very significant effects on me. One was to make me a committed feminist, since I could see for myself how unfairly women were treated—in both the laundry and the bank they got the worst jobs with the lowest pay, and most also had to work a second shift at home, taking care of their houses, husbands and children. (Though still a teenager, I was in a similar position myself, since my mother had died the year before and I had two younger siblings still at school.) The second effect was to convince me that if I didn’t want the rest of my life to be consumed by drudgery and tedium, I needed to get some higher education. I hadn’t much enjoyed school, but it turned out I liked university a lot better. After my first degree (in English) I went on to do postgraduate research (in linguistics), and eventually became a full-time academic. Over the last 25 years I’ve taught English language and linguistics in universities in England, Scotland, Sweden and the USA. Currently I am professor of language and communication at Oxford University. As well as teaching students, I write books and sometimes journalism; I’m still an active feminist, and still a great believer in the power of education to change people’s lives.