Baroness Joan Bakewell

(Elected 2024)

Baroness Bakewell was Birkbeck's President for eleven years to September 2024, during which time she presided over many graduation ceremonies and acted as a champion and ambassador for the College.

Joan Bakewell was born Joan Rowlands in Stockport, Cheshire, before moving to nearby Hazel Grove when she was 3. Joan attended Norbury Church Primary School then later passed the 11 plus to attend Stockport High School for Girls, then a grammar school in local authority control, where she later became Head Girl.

Joan's cultural interests were developed at an early age – her father Jack, a painter in his spare time, had worked his way up to management at an engineering company and her mother Rose, was briefly a tracer before becoming a full-time housewife. Joan grew up with a sister, Susan, who was six years younger than her. Even though her upbringing was during the war years they still managed to enjoy family life and holidays in Bournemouth, staying at a boarding house near the beach.

Following Joan's time at grammar school, which she loved, Joan gained a Scholarship to study Economics and History at Newnham College at the University of Cambridge. She was only the second girl at her school to have gained a place at Cambridge. Joan felt that Cambridge University was the making of her and she 'adored' Cambridge, allowing her to have independence, creativity, and fun in equal measure. While at University, she participated in the Marshall Society and the Mummers Acting Society.

At Cambridge she met her husband and later started work as a Studio Manager for BBC Radio. Joan later had two children – Harriet and Matthew.

After small roles in television, Joan's big break was in 1965 as one of the presenters of BBC2's Late Night Line Up, a show that ran for seven years. She later narrated Cold Comfort Farm and played a TV interviewer in the 1960s film The Touchables.

Joan switched between the BBC and the regional TV company Granada in the 1970s while presenting 'Reports Action', a Sunday teatime show about good causes and BBC's 'Where is Your God', Who Cares' and several BBC Holiday programmes between 1974 and 1978. It was on the back of this particular series where Joan wrote a travel book in 1977 entitled The Complete Traveller: Everything You Need to Know About Travel at Home or Abroad. In an era before budget airlines and the internet, even travel within Europe was met by some with an element of trepidation.

In the 1980s, Joan returned to the BBC working on BBC Radio 4's PM Programme then back into television again as Newsnight's Arts correspondent. She then switched to probably what was her best-known TV role, by becoming the main presenter for the ethical documentary series, 'Heart of the Matter' for 12 years until 1999.

Heart of the Matter often covered religious or ethical issues – where Joan would chair an in-studio debate in which invited guests would discuss a chosen topic. Topics covered were diverse ranging from anti-personnel landmines and substance abuse.

In addition to her TV and Radio work, Joan published books covering a wide range of subjects including The New Priesthood, a book about the BBC in 1970; the Heart of the Matter, a companion to the TV show of the same name; a novel called All the Nice Girls based on her 1940s Stockport childhood, where local schools through the 'Ship Adoption Scheme' adopted Merchant Ships, which, at the time, were being sunk at a rapid rate; and other auto biographical novels – Stop the Clocks and The Tick of Two Clocks - stories about getting older and, in particular, her move away from her family home of many years in Chalcot Square, Camden and the challenges and opportunities that brought.

Aside from Joan's writing and broadcasting, she also found time to participate in politics on the national level as a Labour Member of the House of Lords.

Joan's elevation to the Peerage to become Baroness Bakewell of Stockport in 2011 followed on from her recognition firstly as a CBE – Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1999 and then a Damehood in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

In her political life in the House of Lords she has pursued the causes of Humanism, as Co-Chair of the All Party Humanist Group; seaside towns, as part of the Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities Committee, as well as a long standing interest in the Built Environment Committee and the Environment and Climate Change Committee.

Her advocacy has also included older people's representation, particularly in the media and current affairs and at 75 years old she was appointed 'Tsar for the Elderly, championing the rights of pensioners and the benefits of active living' by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Sixteen years later, Joan is still championing those causes.

When Joan became President of Birkbeck in 2013, taking over from Professor Eric Hobsbawm, she was then able to add 'lifelong learning' and 'higher education' to her list of campaign causes and when the opportunity presented itself to debate these issues in the Lords she was able to advocate and offer Birkbeck's unique perspective.