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Gail Ruth Rebuck, Baroness Rebuck DBE (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher and Chair of Penguin Random House UK. She has served as a Labour member of the House of Lords since 2014.

Early life and education

Rebuck's Latvian-born Jewish grandfather, and her own father, were both in the London rag trade. Her mother was a Dutch Jew.

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. She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from Sussex University in 1974.

Career

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.

Rebuck was fifth in a 2006 Observer list of the top people in the British books industry, and at ninth place in a 2011 Guardian version of the list. In February 2013, she was assessed as the tenth most powerful woman in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.

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.

Personal life

She was married to Philip Gould, until his death in November 2011. They had two daughters: Georgia Gould, who currently serves as the MP for Queen's Park and Maida Vale (UK Parliament constituency), and Grace Gould.

Honours

Rebuck was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours, and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

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.

References

1. Gail Rebuck works at PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LIMITED since 1 July 2013 currently as a Director (PUBLISHER) http://www.cbetta.com/director/gail-rebuck-4
2. "Interview; Gail warning". The Independent. 4 April 1998. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
3. Boyd Tonkin, "Gail Rebuck: Power behind the prose", The Independent, 4 September 2010.
4. ^ "Best of British Industry Awards - Gail Rebuck". Archived from the original on 11 September 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
5. Robert McCrum, "Our top 50 players in the world of books", The Observer, 5 March 2006.
6. Books Power 100: Gail Rebuck #9, The Guardian, 24 September 2011.
7. "The Power List 2013", Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4.
8. "100 Women: Who took part?". BBC News. 20 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
9. "New Chair of Council at the Royal College of Art". Retrieved 18 June 2015.
10. Tim Adams (28 April 2012). "Philip Gould: a good life and death | Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
11. "No. 55710". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1999. p. 10.
12. Graham Ruddick, "Random House boss Gail Rebuck leads Queen's birthday honours for financial world", The Daily Telegraph, 13 June 2009.
13. "No. 59090". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2009. p. 7.
14. "No. 60997". The London Gazette. 24 September 2014. p. 18554.

• 1952 births
• Living people
• 20th-century British businesspeople
• 21st-century British businesspeople
• Alumni of the University of Sussex
• British Ashkenazi Jews
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• English Jews
• English people of Dutch-Jewish descent
• English people of Latvian-Jewish descent
• Jewish British politicians
• Labour Party (UK) life peers
• Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
• People educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
• Publishers (people) from London
• Spouses of life peers
• Women book publishers (people)