Gail Rebuck

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]

In February 2015, Rebuck succeeded Sir Neil Cossons as pro-provost and chair of council (the governing body) at the Royal College of Art; she joined the RCA council in 1999.[8]

She was married to Philip Gould, Lord Gould of Brookwood, until his death in November 2011. They had two daughters, Georgia Gould who currently serves as leader of the Camden London Borough Council, and Grace Gould.[9]

Rebuck was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours,[4][10] and promoted to Dame Commander (DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.[11][12]

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.[13]