Jane Hawking

Author

Birthday March 29, 1944

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace St Albans, Hertfordshire, England

Age 79 years old

#7692 Most Popular

1944

Jane Beryl Wilde Hawking Jones (born 29 March 1944) is an English author and teacher.

She was married to Stephen Hawking for 30 years.

Jane was born to George and Beryl Wilde.

She grew up in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

She was raised in the Church of England and is an active Christian.

She studied languages at the University of London's Westfield College.

1962

Jane and Stephen Hawking met through mutual college friends at a party in 1962.

1963

Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS) in 1963.

1964

Though aware of his consequent shortened life expectancy and limitations, the couple became engaged in 1964 and married in 1965 in their shared hometown of St Albans.

1967

They had three children: Robert, born in 1967, Lucy, born in 1970, and Timothy, born in 1979.

1981

After years of working on her doctoral thesis through Westfield College, Hawking received her PhD in medieval Spanish poetry in April 1981.

She felt compelled to obtain a PhD to have her own academic identity within the University of Cambridge.

1990

Jane and Stephen Hawking separated in 1990, and divorced five years later.

1997

In 1997, she married musician Jonathan Hellyer Jones.

However, she continued to support Hawking through his health problems as he continued to work.

1999

In 1999, she wrote an autobiography about her first marriage, Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen, which was used as a basis for the 2004 television film Hawking about his early years as a PhD student at Cambridge University and the beginnings of their relationship and marriage.

She and Stephen Hawking established a working relationship following his separation and divorce from his second wife.

2004

In a 2004 interview, she cited her Christian faith as giving her hope during her marriage and the depression she experienced as a result of being his then-caregiver.

In that interview, she noted the irony in her faith-based strength to support him in light of Hawking's well-known atheism.

Hawking was portrayed on television by Lisa Dillon in the 2004 television film Hawking, and on film by Felicity Jones in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, for which Jones was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

2007

In the postlude to her 2007 memoir Travelling to Infinity, she writes about Hawking after his second divorce (from nurse Elaine Mason): "We are able to associate freely again and enjoy many a family occasion together. It has been quite like old times..."

During her marriage to Hawking, while dealing with the progression of his illness, Jane experienced depression.

2009

In 2009, an updated version of the autobiography was republished under the title Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen and was subsequently made into the award-winning film The Theory of Everything.

2015

Following the release of the film, Hawking discussed her life on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour in January 2015.