Richard Lambert

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Sir
Richard Lambert
Richard Lambert @ the FT Economists' Christmas Drinks Reception 2015.jpg
Lambert at the FT economists' Christmas drinks reception, 2015
Born (1944-09-23) 23 September 1944 (age 79)
Buckinghamshire, England
Education Fettes College
Alma mater Balliol College, Oxford
TitleFormer director-general of the CBI
Former chancellor of the University of Warwick
Former editor of the Financial Times
Former chairman of the British Museum
Spouse
Harriet Murray-Browne
(m. 1973)
Children2

Sir Richard Peter Lambert (born 23 September 1944) is a British journalist and business executive. He served as director-general of the CBI, chancellor of the University of Warwick, editor of the Financial Times newspaper and chairman of the board of the British Museum.

Contents

Early life and education

Lambert was born in north Buckinghamshire and grew up in Manchester, first attending a local grammar school, before, at the age of 13, going to Fettes College, an independent school for boys in Edinburgh, [1] followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford, [2] where he studied history.

Business career

He joined the Financial Times in 1966, editing the Lex Column in the paper in the 1970s. He became financial editor in 1979. From 1982 to 1983, he was the paper's New York correspondent. He was editor of the FT from 1991 to 2001. [2] From 1997 to 1998, he returned in New York and remained editor, where he set up a US version of the paper to challenge the Wall Street Journal .

From June 2003 to March 2006, he was one of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, which sets the interest rate for the British pound. [2]

CBI

He became director-general of the Confederation of British Industry on 1 July 2006. [2] He wrote Government reports on BBC News 24 [2] and chaired the Lambert Review on the relationship between higher education and business. [3]

He was replaced by John Cridland as head of the CBI on 1 February 2011.

Honours

He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York in 2007. [4] He has other honorary degrees from City University, the University of Warwick, Brighton University and the University of Exeter.

He was appointed chancellor of the University of Warwick on 19 March 2008. He formally took up the position on 1 August 2008, [5] and was officially installed on 10 December of the same year. After eight years as chancellor, Lambert concluded his term at the end of the 2015–16 academic year and was succeeded by Catherine Ashton. [6]

He was knighted in the 2011 New Year Honours for service to business. [7]

Ownership claims over the Parthenon Marbles

Lambert took up the controversial role of chair of the board of the British Museum in 2014, a role described in an article published in his former newspaper the Financial Times as "a ceremonial role that mostly involves raising money and refusing to give the Greeks back the Elgin Marbles". [8]

The position of the British Museum is that the Elgin Marbles are owned by the Museum trustees. [9] This position is disputed both by the Greek government and within Britain, where polls indicate that a majority of the British public support the repatriation of the Marbles to Athens. [10] [11] Lambert complained of not having received sufficient advanced notice from Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who resigned from the board of trustees, citing its connection with "corporate sponsorship" and its failure to repatriate artifacts such as the Elgin Marbles. [12] [13]

In response to the controversy surrounding the ownership of the Elgin Marbles, including instances of the marbles being accidentally damaged by schoolboys and by unsuccessful whitening attempts, Lambert wrote an article in The Guardian claiming that the marbles should remain in the Museum. [14] [15] [16] [17] This came about after the controversy intensified in Britain, in part thanks to British Labour Party politician Jeremy Corbyn, who suggested that he would approve of repatriating the Marbles to Greece. [18] Polls conducted by the British government indicate the majority of the British public support the repatriation of the Marbles to Greece. [19]

Lambert stood down from his role at the British Museum in October 2021 and was replaced by George Osborne. [20]

Personal life

He married Harriet Murray-Browne in 1973 and has two children.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parthenon</span> Temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece

The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical Greek art, and the Parthenon is considered an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, democracy, and Western civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elgin Marbles</span> Ancient Greek sculptures held in London

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens, removed from Ottoman Greece and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and now held in the British Museum in London. The majority of the sculptures were created in the 5th century BC under the direction of sculptor and architect Phidias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin</span> British nobleman and diplomat (1766–1841)

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine,, often known as Lord Elgin, was a British nobleman, diplomat, and collector, known primarily for the controversial procurement of marble sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures on the Acropolis of Athens.

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) is a group of British people who support the return of the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles to Athens, Greece. Members include Dame Janet Suzman (chairperson) and professors Anthony Snodgrass (honorary president), Paul Cartledge (Vice-Chair), and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Repatriation (cultural property)</span> Return of stolen art to the original owners or heirs

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Sir David Mackenzie Wilson, FBA is a British archaeologist, art historian, and museum curator, specialising in Anglo-Saxon art and the Viking Age. From 1977 until 1992 he served as the Director of the British Museum, where he had previously worked, from 1955 to 1964, as an assistant keeper. In his role as director of the museum, he became embroiled in the controversy over the ownership of the Elgin Marbles with the Greek government, engaging with a "disastrous" televised debate with Greek Minister of Culture Melina Mercouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marbles Reunited</span>

Marbles Reunited: Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is a campaign group, governed by charter and funded by donations from members and supporters, which lobbies and raises awareness about the case for the return of the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles to Athens, Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acropolis Museum</span> Archaeological museum in Athens, Greece

The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. The Acropolis Museum also lies over the ruins of part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greece–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palermo Fragment</span> Marble fragment from the Acropolis of Athens, removed by Lord Elgin

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Ian Dennis Jenkins was a Senior Curator at the British Museum who was an expert on ancient Greece and specialised in ancient Greek sculpture. Jenkins published a number of books and over a hundred articles. He led the British Museum's excavations at Cnidus and was involved in the debate over the ownership of the Elgin Marbles.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeological looting</span> Theft of artifacts from archaeological sites

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartwig Fischer</span> German art historian and ex-museum director

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<i>Imperial Spoils</i> 1987 book by Christopher Hitchens

Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles is a 1987 book by Christopher Hitchens on the controversy surrounding the removal by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin of the Parthenon's sculptured friezes, and his subsequent sale of the Marbles to the British Museum. Hitchens examines the history of the artefacts and the question of whether they should be returned to Greece.

The Elgin Marbles is a 2006 book by American archaeologist Dorothy King about the 5th century BCE Classical Greek marble sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles.

References

  1. Distinguished Pupils. Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Profile: Richard Lambert
  3. The final report from the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration Archived 10 September 2008 at the UK Government Web Archive , December 2003
  4. University honours nine, University of York
  5. Richard Lambert appointed as new Chancellor Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , University of Warwick
  6. "Baroness Ashton appointed Chancellor of the University of Warwick". Warwick Insite. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  7. "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 1.
  8. "George Osborne's horrible histories at the British Museum". The Financial Times. 29 June 2021.
  9. "The Parthenon Sculptures: The position of the Trustees of the British Museum". British Museum.
  10. "Public and MPs would return the Elgin Marbles!". ipsos-mori.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
  11. "Return Of The Parthenon Marbles". Ipsos MORI. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  12. "In damning online critique of British Museum's ethics, trustee Ahdaf Soueif announces resignation". The Art Newspaper. 16 July 2019.
  13. "British Museum staff express support for trustee who resigned". The Guardian. 23 July 2019.
  14. Hastings, Chris. Revealed: how rowdy schoolboys knocked a leg off one of the Elgin Marbles Archived 7 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine , The Daily Telegraph, 15 May 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  15. Oddy, Andrew, "The Conservation of Marble Sculptures in the British Museum before 1975", in Studies in Conservation, vol. 47, no. 3, (2002), p. 146
  16. Jenkins, I., '"Sir, they are scrubbing the Elgin Marbles!" – some controversial cleanings of the Parthenon Sculptures', Minerva 10(6) (1999) 43–45.
  17. "Trust us to look after Parthenon marbles | Letters". TheGuardian.com . 26 September 2018.
  18. Trend, Nick (5 June 2018). "Why returning the Elgin Marbles would be madness". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  19. "Return of the Parthenon Marbles". Ipsos MORI. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  20. "George Osborne: Former chancellor named British Museum chairman". BBC News. 24 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
Media offices
Preceded by Editor of The Financial Times
19912001
Succeeded by
Business positions
Preceded by Director of the Confederation of British Industry
20062011
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the British Museum
20142021
Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of the University of Warwick
20082016
Succeeded by