David Puttnam

Puttnam was born in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie Beatrix, a homemaker of Jewish origin,[1] and Leonard Arthur Puttnam, a photographer.[2] Educated at Minchenden Grammar School in London, Puttnam had an early career in advertising, including five formative years at Collett Dickenson Pearce, and as agent acting for the photographers David Bailey and Brian Duffy.

In 1983, Puttnam was appointed as a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.[12] In 1995 Puttnam was appointed as a Knight Bachelor.[13] In 1997, he was created as a life peer[14] and was granted Letters Patent to become Baron Puttnam, of Queensgate in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.[15] In 1998, Puttnam was named in a list of financial donors to the British Labour Party.[16] In 2002, he chaired the joint scrutiny committee on the Communications Bill, which recommended an amendment to prevent ownership of British terrestrial television stations by companies with a significant share of the newspaper market. This was widely interpreted as being aimed at stopping Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation from buying channel Five. When the government opposed the amendment, Puttnam brokered a compromise – the introduction of a 'public interest' test, to be applied by the new regulator Ofcom but without explicit restrictions.

From 2004 to 2005, Puttnam chaired the Hansard Society Commission on Communication of Parliamentary Democracy, the final report of which urged all political parties to commit to a renewal of parliamentary life in an attempt to reinvigorate representative democracy.[17][18] In 2007, he chaired the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill.

From 2012 to 2017, Puttnam has was the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).[19] During the same period, Puttnam - who lives in Skibbereen, County Cork - was named Ireland's Digital Champion by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, TD.[20]

Lord Puttnam on 10 July 2006 at the University of Sunderland School of Computing and Technology Awards Ceremony.

In August 2014, Puttnam was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[21]

In June 2019, Puttnam chaired the special House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee,[22] set up to investigate the impact of digital technologies on democracy and oversaw the publication of its findings in June 2020 [23]. The report, Digital Technology & the Resurrection of Trust, made 45 recommendations to government to address the spread of misinformation and disinformation and the consequential erosion of public trust.

For 10 years, Puttnam was chairman of the National Film and Television School whose alumni included people such as Nick Park; and in 2017, he succeeded Richard Attenborough as Life President. Puttnam founded Skillset, which trains young people to become members of the film and television industries. From 2002 to 2009, he was UK president of UNICEF and remains an ambassador.[23]

Puttnam was the first chancellor of the University of Sunderland from 1997 until 13 July 2007. He was appointed an Honorary Doctor of Education during the School of Education and Lifelong Learning's Academic Awards Ceremonies, in his final week as Chancellor; and upon his retirement, he was granted the Freedom of the City of Sunderland.[24] In 1998, he founded the National Teaching Awards and became its first chairman. He was the founding chairman of the General Teaching Council from 2000 to 2002, was appointed as chancellor of the Open University from 2006 to 2017,[25] and was also the Chairman of NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) from 1998 until 2003. He was also on the board of directors of learning technologies company Promethean.[26]

Puttnam is the patron of Schools NorthEast, an organisation set up in 2007 to represent all schools in the North East of England. He is also a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival (now Shakespeare Schools Foundation), a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.

In 2012 he founded Atticus Education delivering interactive seminars on film, media and screen to students at universities all over the world.

From May 2014 until 2018, Puttnam was Chair of the Academic Board for Pearson College,[27] part of Pearson PLC, the first FTSE 100 company to offer degrees in the UK. In March 2015, Puttnam was made a freeman at the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in recognition of his service as chairman at the Sage Gateshead.

Puttnam was a member of the Commonwealth of Learning's Board of Governors until January 2020.[28] Today he holds a number of positions including President of the Film Distributors’ Association, Chair of Nord Anglia International School (Dublin), Life President of the National Film & Television School, Chair of Film London Executive Task Force, UNICEF Ambassador, Member of the Advisory Board of Accenture (Ireland), Adjunct Professor of Film Studies and Digital Humanities at University College Cork, Adjunct Professor of the School of Media & Communications at RMIT University (Australia), Patron of the Dublin Bid World Summit on Media for Children 2020/2023 and International Ambassador, WWF.  He is a member of the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) Parliamentary Network.

In 1982, Puttnam received the BAFTA Michael Balcon Award for his outstanding contribution to the British Film Industry. In February 2006, he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship. He made the occasion notable by delivering a particularly moving homage to his late father, who had died before he could see his son receive the Best Picture Oscar for Chariots of Fire. Puttnam also congratulated contemporary filmmakers (specifically George Clooney) for making films with integrity: the lack of such films being produced had been the reason for his retirement from the film industry in the late 1990s.[29]

Puttnam is the recipient of over 50 honorary degrees and fellowships from the UK and overseas: he received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2001,[30] and from Trinity College Dublin in 2016;[31] he was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's President's Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography in 2003;[32] and in May 2006, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

On 12 July 2007, Puttnam was given the freedom of the City of Sunderland.[33] In 2008, he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the cultural landscape of the UK, in both economic and creative terms, and for his notable support for the Nottingham City-based GameCity Festival.[34] He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2017.

Puttnam suffers from ME, debilitating him on occasions.[35]

In 2009, in partnership with Sir Michael Barber, Puttnam released We Are the People We've Been Waiting For, an education documentary featuring high-profile figures discussing their own experiences of education.[36]

All in all, Puttnam's films have won 10 Oscars, 31 BAFTAs, 13 Golden Globes, nine Emmys, four David di Donatellos in Italy and the Palme d'Or at Cannes.[37]

Coat of arms of David Puttnam

Crest A harp standing on a closed book fesswise Proper bound Gules. Escutcheon Or within an orle of roses a gateway composed of a central arch between two lesse arches and surmounted by a segmental pediment Gules. Supporters Dexter, a curlew Proper gorged with a plain collar Argent charged with square billets Sable; sinister, a stork Proper gorged with a plain collar Argent charged with square billets sable. Motto Servio Ut Vivam [38]

Puttnam was deputy Chairman of Channel 4 Television from 2006 to 2012. He is president of the Film Distributors' Association (FDA) and chair of the TSL Advisory Board.

Puttnam co-authored (with Neil Watson) Movies and Money, published in January 2000 by Vintage Books.

When Puttnam became the chairman of Profero, a London-based digital marketing agency in April 2007, he explained the move saying: "My experience over the past forty-odd (some very odd) years has encompassed marketing, entertainment and social issues, a fascinating mix that is integral to the daily lives of consumers and citizens. A business that can combine and magnify these dynamics can only create incredible value for their clients and, as a by-product, themselves. To me Profero is in just such a position, and it's now my job to help them realise their potential."[39]

Puttnam, who had produced Ian Charleson's star-making film Chariots of Fire, contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.[40]

On Sunday, 19 August 2007, Puttnam gave the oration at the annual Michael Collins commemoration in Béal na Bláth, County Cork.[41]

He has also preached at Durham Cathedral at the feast of the cathedral's commemoration of its founders and benefactors.[42]

Puttnam is patron of the Irish education charity Camara Education[43] and CFS/ME charity Action for ME.[44]

• Yule, Andrew (1989). Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle For Hollywood. Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440-50177-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Puttnam.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: David Puttnam

• University of Sunderland
• The Open University
• We are the people movie
• Futurelab's Board of Trustees
• David Puttnam at IMDb
• "Opening windows". BBC News. 19 February 2006. – transcript of Sunday AM interview with Huw Edwards
• Speech on 'Educating for the Digital Society' at the IIEA – 19 January 2010
• The short film More About Movies and Money (1998) is available for free download at the Internet Archive