The Baroness Rebuck | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 18 September 2014 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Gail Ruth Rebuck 10 February 1952 |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | |
Children | 2, including Georgia Gould |
Education | Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle |
Alma mater | University of Sussex (BA) |
Occupation | Publisher |
Gail Ruth Rebuck, Baroness Rebuck DBE (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher and Chair of Penguin Random House UK. [1] She has served as a Labour member of the House of Lords since 2014.
Rebuck's Latvian-born Jewish grandfather, and her own father, were both in the London rag trade. Her mother was a Dutch Jew. [2]
At the age of four she was sent to the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, London, where she learned to read and write in French before she did in English. [3] She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from Sussex University in 1974. [4]
Rebuck worked for several independent publishers and ran a paperback imprint for Hamlyn, before putting her own funds into a new imprint, Century. After a merger with Hutchinson in 1985, Century Hutchinson was taken over by Random House UK in 1989. Rebuck was appointed chair and chief executive of Random House UK in 1991. [4]
Rebuck was fifth in a 2006 Observer list of the top people in the British books industry, [5] and at ninth place in a 2011 Guardian version of the list. [6] In February 2013, she was assessed as the tenth most powerful woman in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. [7] She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013. [8]
In February 2015, Rebuck succeeded Sir Neil Cossons as pro-provost and chair of council (the governing body) at the Royal College of Art (RCA); she joined the RCA council in 1999. [9]
She was married to Philip Gould, until his death in November 2011. They had two daughters: Georgia Gould, who currently serves as leader of Camden London Borough Council, and Grace Gould. [10]
Rebuck was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours, [4] [11] and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. [12] [13]
In 2014, it was announced that Rebuck was to become a Labour peer in the House of Lords, following in the footsteps of her late husband. She was created a life peer on 18 September 2014, taking the title Baroness Rebuck, of Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden. [14]
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, is a British Labour Party politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a life peer in 1997, serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council from 2003 to 2007.
Helene Valerie Hayman, Baroness Hayman, is a British politician who was Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. As a member of the Labour Party she was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979. When she became an MP at age 25, she was the youngest MP of the 1974–79 Parliament. Hayman became a life peer in 1996.
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away, Jamboree and Fast Forward. On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords as a life peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats. In 2024, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award for her services to television.
Julia Babette Sarah Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, is a British rabbi and politician. She previously took the Liberal Democrat whip, but resigned from the party and became a crossbencher in 2011 upon becoming the full-time senior rabbi of the West London Synagogue, from which she retired in 2020. She became the chair of University College London Hospitals (UCLH) in 2019. She is a member of the House of Lords.
Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson,, known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh life peeress, television presenter and former wheelchair racer.
Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom until 2004, when Baroness Hale was appointed to the House of Lords. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. She stood down from that task with effect from that date, and the inquest was conducted by Lord Justice Scott Baker.
Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. She served as Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge from 1984 to 1991.
Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature in 2017. She has been described by Gail Rebuck as "the most extraordinary publisher of her generation".
Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett,, is a retired British judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. The first woman to chair the Bar Council and the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal, Hallett led the independent inquest into the 7/7 bombings. In April 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Security Vettings Appeal Panel. In December 2021, she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 June 2022, the Government accepted Baroness Hallett's proposed terms of reference for the inquiry, with minor changes suggested by the devolved administrations.
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan,, is a public figure in Northern Ireland. From 1999 to 2007, she was the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords and she was so appointed in September 2009. In December 2010, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, appointed her as the chairman of its governing authority. She is a columnist with The Irish Catholic.
Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 1992 to 2015.
Dame Susan Catherine Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Loughborough, is a British sports administrator who was chairman of UK Sport between 2003 and 2013.
Muriel Winifred Turner, Baroness Turner of Camden was a British Labour politician and trade union leader.
Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, is an Australian-British politician and journalist who served as Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in Theresa May's 2019 resignation honours.
Ellen Margaret Eaton, Baroness Eaton, DBE, DL has been a Conservative Party life peer in the British House of Lords since 2010.
Tina Wendy Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
Helena Louise Morrissey, Baroness Morrissey,, is a British financier, campaigner and Conservative peer.
Dame Moira Margaret Gibb is a British public servant and social work adviser. After qualifying as a social worker, she worked for the London boroughs of Ealing, Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden, where she served as the chief executive of Camden London Borough Council from 2003 to 2011. Gibb served as a Civil Service commissioner from 2012 to 2016, and chaired the boards of City Lit and Skills for Care until 2022. She led a serious case review into safeguarding at Southbank International School, and into the Church of England's response to the case of Peter Ball.
Georgia Anne Rebuck Gould is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Queen's Park and Maida Vale since the 2024 general election.
Anthony John Valerian Cheetham is an English book publisher, responsible for establishing several of the UK's major publishing houses, including Century, Orion, Quercus and Head of Zeus.