Rohde was born Gillian Shelley Mary Hall, on 17 May 1933, in Paddington, England, her parents being a scriptwriter father and an actress mother.
She secured her first job on the Nottinghamshire Free Press before gravitating to London and joining first The Star and later the Daily Express.
From her years in Moscow, not only did she learn Russian, but served as interpreter for the press when the Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin made their official visit to London in 1956.
In the 1960s she moved north to Manchester as chief feature writer for the Daily Mail and from there joined Granada Television, which gave her scope as a presenter of programmes and commentator of the local scene, chat host and debating chair, becoming a personality in her own right.
It was a mix of style that drew on the pioneering skills of the foreign correspondent and the knack of the local journalist in bringing out the interest in the lives of our neighbours.
This was in itself an achievement, given that Lowry was known to be difficult to pin down to an interview appointment and to any clear content and was inclined to amuse himself by making up stories.