Alan Bookbinder

Alan Peter Bookbinder (born 16 March 1956) is a British journalist, charity executive, and academic administrator. From October 2018 to 2023, he served as Master of Downing College, Cambridge. He previously worked for the BBC, and was Director of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts from 2006 to 2018.

Alan Bookbinder
18th Master of Downing College, Cambridge
In office
1 October 2018 – 2 October 2023
Preceded byProfessor Geoffrey Grimmett
Succeeded byGraham Virgo
Personal details
Born
Alan Peter Bookbinder

16 March 1956
Bristol, England
Alma materSt Catherine's College, Oxford (BA)
Harvard University (MA)
OccupationJournalist, charity executive, academic administrator

Biography

Bookbinder was born on 16 March 1956 in Bristol, England,[1] the eldest of his parents' three sons. Geoffrey Ellis Bookbinder (1927–1990), his father, was a senior psychologist who worked for the British prisons service.[2] His mother, born Bridget Mary Doran (1930–2009), was originally from Manchester.[3] It was in Manchester that Alan Bookbinder spent most of his boyhood, and where he attended Manchester Grammar School, an all-boys direct grant grammar school.[4] He studied history and Russian at St Catherine's College, Oxford, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[5] His university course included a year abroad, spent at Voronezh in the Soviet Union, some 300 miles south of Moscow.[2] He subsequently received a Master of Arts (MA) degree from Harvard University, having spent a year at the Russian Research Center on a Harkness Fellowship.[2]

He was a journalist and producer at the BBC from 1986 to 2006 where, despite describing himself as "an open-hearted agnostic",[4] he became Head of Religion and Ethics programming (2001–2006). He was then Director of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts (2006–2018), the largest family philanthropic body in the United Kingdom.[6][7][8][9]

In November 2017, Bookbinder was announced as the next Master of Downing College, Cambridge, in succession to Geoffrey Grimmett.[10] On 1 October 2018, he was installed as the 18th Master of Downing College.[7][11] He was succeeded as Master by Graham Virgo in October 2023.[12]

References
  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  2. "A profile of Mr Alan Bookbinder" (PDF). Alumni Association Newsletter 2018. Downing College, Cambridge. pp. 32–33. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  3. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  4. "BBC appoint man with no religion". A man who is to run the BBC's religious and ethical programming confessed today he didn't know if he believed in God. Manchester Evening News. 17 February 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  5. "Alan Bookbinder" (PDF). Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Board Members. Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  6. Bookbinder, Alan Peter. 1 December 2018. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U42601. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 13 April 2019. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. "Alan Bookbinder". Downing College. University of Cambridge. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  8. Snoddy, Raymond (24 October 2002). "A man of ideas but not of faith". The Times. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  9. White, Roland (3 December 2017). "BBC is the new master of Oxbridge". The Times. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  10. Wernham, Patrick (29 November 2017). "Alan Bookbinder appointed as new Master of Downing College". Varsity Online. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  11. Mira Katbamna, ed. (21 November 2018). "Alumni events .... Appointments". Cambridge Alumni Magazine (CAM). University of Cambridge & Issuu, Palo Alto CA. p. 9. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  12. "Downing welcomes Professor Graham Virgo KC (Hon) as the 19th Master". Downing College Cambridge. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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