Profile Andrew Freemantle
Director of the RNLI
Due to be published in The Sunday Times
October 2008
During the course of today, lifeboats are likely have rescued around 20 people from coastal waters around the UK and Ireland. Over a year their unpaid volunteer crews save thousands of lives.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s chief executive Andrew Freemantle, a former career soldier says: “There is a nobility about these people who go out in these little boats in appalling conditions to rescue other people. One is very fortunate to be working in an organisation held in such high esteem. It represents the best of British – to give and not count the cost.”
Last year RNLI Lifeboats rescued 7,834 people, Another 10,000 were helped by the RNLI’s recently established beach life guard operation
It’s creation and the opening of the RNLI training college are two key achievements of Freemantle’s 10 years at the helm.
Before coming to the RNLI he saw combat in Vietnam with the Australian SAS after a career in the British Army, then ran the Scottish Ambulance Service. He says: “There are common skills, challenges and problems in running big organisations. There are lots of people in the Army and Scottish ambulance service - though not enough - and in the RNLI. “
The charity, founded in 1824, operates its lifeboat services without a penny from the British Government. Most of its annual £124 million budget comes from legacies and fundraising - though it does get a little financial aid from the Irish Government, a relationship that pre-dates independence.
Projects like the first memorial to commemorate lifeboat crew lost at work - to be unveiled late in 2009 – must be funded from other sources. Last summer Freemantle did his bit. The 64-year-old - not normally a cyclist - undertook a 1,100 mile sponsored bike ride from the RNLI HQ in Poole to Rome to raise £57,000 towards the sculpture.
The RNLI pays Freemantle just over £133,000 a year to oversee its 1,300 staff, 26.000 fundraising volunteers and about 7.000 men and volunteers who are in the front line at 235 lifeboat stations.
Freemantle’s office overlooks the RNLI’s training college, opened five years ago by the Queen. All lifeboat crew attend courses here, reflecting the RNLI’s saying: “Train one, save many.”
Though he can also see Poole harbour from his desk, Freemantle’s forays onto the water are infrequent because his week involves long hours in meetings. He does rub shoulders with visiting crews in the college cafeteria.
This week he addressed the Fire Services College – they collaborate on flood rescue operations – and prepared for an imminent visit to China.
The Chinese Rescue and Salvage Bureau have bought 20 lifeboats from the RNLI. “The Chinese sent people around the world and hit upon the RNLI to work with. We are regarded as providing a gold standard world-wide for sea rescue services.”
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Profile Michael Dixon
Profile Dr Michael Dixon
Director the Natural History Museum London
to be published in the Sunday Times in October
The Natural History Museum in Kensington is on the threshold of the most dramatic chapter in its history since its foundation in 1881- the opening late next year of the Darwin Centre.
The giant concrete cocoon behind a wall of steel and glass will showcase the Museum’s hugely important scientific work. It will house hundreds of scientists, their research and millions of specimens.
“We are every bit as much an important scientific research institute on issues relating to the natural world as a place of public education and entertainment” says its Director Dr Michael Dixon. “ So our vision for the future is to advance knowledge about the natural world to inspire better care of the planet. It is about making a difference - making people who visit here feel differently about our planet and natural resources.”
He hopes that the sort of crowds who thrill to animatronic dinosaurs and showcases of creepy crawlies will also engage with the serious scientific work going on backstage. “Our ability to influence our visitors is underpinned and made credible by the scientific work we do here.”
It’s going to be a busy year for Dixon, 52, as he oversees the run-up to the opening of the £78 million project - a key element of 18 months celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th anniversary. The scientist’s statue has recently been moved to look down on the Museum’s grand entrance hall.
A few days ago Dixon presided over the first public glimpse of the centre. He also gave the Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt a tour and showed him the Museum’s research departments.
Dixon studied zoology but though his alma mater Imperial College is a few doors away, he has not been a working scientist since gaining his doctorate. Instead he embarked on a career in publishing.
But after 20 years he returned to his first love as Director of the Zoological Society of London and, for the past four and a half years, in his present post on a salary of £166,000.
He is a full time administrator “but with a knowledge of how science works and of the politics of how science works and is funded.”
“But I do try to get out into the museum. I love the place and love this job. Its hardly like working really, except getting up and getting home in the dark. Long hours.”
He has a big team – more than 900 full time staff, including 350 scientists and an additional 313 volunteers. And the spend is also big – annually around £65 million derived from government grants, money from other sources and from its own revenues.
These include merchandising, museum restaurants and corporate events. London Fashion Week has just used the Museum’s gardens. “It generated a healthy income.”
And the visitors have swelled since admission fees were scrapped in 2001. Last year there were around 3.8 million and once the Darwin Centre opens its expected to top four million for the first time.
Director the Natural History Museum London
to be published in the Sunday Times in October
The Natural History Museum in Kensington is on the threshold of the most dramatic chapter in its history since its foundation in 1881- the opening late next year of the Darwin Centre.
The giant concrete cocoon behind a wall of steel and glass will showcase the Museum’s hugely important scientific work. It will house hundreds of scientists, their research and millions of specimens.
“We are every bit as much an important scientific research institute on issues relating to the natural world as a place of public education and entertainment” says its Director Dr Michael Dixon. “ So our vision for the future is to advance knowledge about the natural world to inspire better care of the planet. It is about making a difference - making people who visit here feel differently about our planet and natural resources.”
He hopes that the sort of crowds who thrill to animatronic dinosaurs and showcases of creepy crawlies will also engage with the serious scientific work going on backstage. “Our ability to influence our visitors is underpinned and made credible by the scientific work we do here.”
It’s going to be a busy year for Dixon, 52, as he oversees the run-up to the opening of the £78 million project - a key element of 18 months celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th anniversary. The scientist’s statue has recently been moved to look down on the Museum’s grand entrance hall.
A few days ago Dixon presided over the first public glimpse of the centre. He also gave the Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt a tour and showed him the Museum’s research departments.
Dixon studied zoology but though his alma mater Imperial College is a few doors away, he has not been a working scientist since gaining his doctorate. Instead he embarked on a career in publishing.
But after 20 years he returned to his first love as Director of the Zoological Society of London and, for the past four and a half years, in his present post on a salary of £166,000.
He is a full time administrator “but with a knowledge of how science works and of the politics of how science works and is funded.”
“But I do try to get out into the museum. I love the place and love this job. Its hardly like working really, except getting up and getting home in the dark. Long hours.”
He has a big team – more than 900 full time staff, including 350 scientists and an additional 313 volunteers. And the spend is also big – annually around £65 million derived from government grants, money from other sources and from its own revenues.
These include merchandising, museum restaurants and corporate events. London Fashion Week has just used the Museum’s gardens. “It generated a healthy income.”
And the visitors have swelled since admission fees were scrapped in 2001. Last year there were around 3.8 million and once the Darwin Centre opens its expected to top four million for the first time.
Profile - Director of the Royal Opera House
Profile Tony Hall - Chief exeutive of the Royal Opera House
appeared in The Sunday Times
October 2008
Nobody could accuse Tony Hall, the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House of elitism.
This summer its productions have been busting out all over Britain. Nationwide 160 cinemas, plus others in Europe, screened Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” live from Covent Garden and other audiences watched opera and ballet relayed to giant outdoor screens across London.
Its offerings are promoted online – producing a cluster of first time customers and Hall, who left as BBC director of news and current affairs in 2001, also oversees the production and marketing of DVDs of performances and is involved in education initiatives to help foster interest in ballet and opera.
“We are becoming a total production house – not just on stage but on TV, radio and the web. When you are taking a large grant it’s important you should reach as many people as you can.”
Which means offering popular work alongside challenging pieces like “Minotaur”, by Harrison Birtwistle and the pop opera “Monkey” by Blur’s Damon Albarn, “Monkey was a really exciting moment for us. It was a very different audience - a younger crowd.”
The ROH spends £92 million annually and gets £26 million in grant aid. “But we raise more than twice as much in other ways - £38 million from the box office and over £60 million from sponsors and commercially.”
Hall, 57, took a pay cut when he left the BBC but now earns more than £250,000 a year. His team is smaller – 880 permanent staff but more for big productions.
He says the BBC and Opera House have similarities as creative organisations. “But the big difference here is you have to go out and make money.”
He doesn’t miss the BBC, “But I do get twitchy when a big story happens. I’m nosy and inquisitive about everything going on, like last week watching the financial world shudder. I have spent time thinking through what it means for us. We are not seeing any downturn in income yet, but we’d been foolish if weren’t thinking through the implications.”
It’s not a nine to five job. Hall attends all first nights and many other performances. Otherwise there is entertaining, management meetings and regular discussions with the artistic directors of the Royal Ballet and Opera.
“My job is to enable as many of their dreams to happen as possible. I know if finances go whoopsie, the art will suffer. In the end if we have to make an unpleasant decision it will be mine”
Then there is extracurricular work – chairing an industry skills council, masterminding a national skills academy in Thurrock, reporting on Dance Education and assessing media relations for the MOD.
But Hall’s love of Opera runs deep and helps him cope with any work pressures. “If things get stressful I drop into rehearsals. It reminds me what it is all about.”
appeared in The Sunday Times
October 2008
Nobody could accuse Tony Hall, the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House of elitism.
This summer its productions have been busting out all over Britain. Nationwide 160 cinemas, plus others in Europe, screened Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” live from Covent Garden and other audiences watched opera and ballet relayed to giant outdoor screens across London.
Its offerings are promoted online – producing a cluster of first time customers and Hall, who left as BBC director of news and current affairs in 2001, also oversees the production and marketing of DVDs of performances and is involved in education initiatives to help foster interest in ballet and opera.
“We are becoming a total production house – not just on stage but on TV, radio and the web. When you are taking a large grant it’s important you should reach as many people as you can.”
Which means offering popular work alongside challenging pieces like “Minotaur”, by Harrison Birtwistle and the pop opera “Monkey” by Blur’s Damon Albarn, “Monkey was a really exciting moment for us. It was a very different audience - a younger crowd.”
The ROH spends £92 million annually and gets £26 million in grant aid. “But we raise more than twice as much in other ways - £38 million from the box office and over £60 million from sponsors and commercially.”
Hall, 57, took a pay cut when he left the BBC but now earns more than £250,000 a year. His team is smaller – 880 permanent staff but more for big productions.
He says the BBC and Opera House have similarities as creative organisations. “But the big difference here is you have to go out and make money.”
He doesn’t miss the BBC, “But I do get twitchy when a big story happens. I’m nosy and inquisitive about everything going on, like last week watching the financial world shudder. I have spent time thinking through what it means for us. We are not seeing any downturn in income yet, but we’d been foolish if weren’t thinking through the implications.”
It’s not a nine to five job. Hall attends all first nights and many other performances. Otherwise there is entertaining, management meetings and regular discussions with the artistic directors of the Royal Ballet and Opera.
“My job is to enable as many of their dreams to happen as possible. I know if finances go whoopsie, the art will suffer. In the end if we have to make an unpleasant decision it will be mine”
Then there is extracurricular work – chairing an industry skills council, masterminding a national skills academy in Thurrock, reporting on Dance Education and assessing media relations for the MOD.
But Hall’s love of Opera runs deep and helps him cope with any work pressures. “If things get stressful I drop into rehearsals. It reminds me what it is all about.”
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