Alan Peter Bookbinder (born 16 March 1956) is a British journalist, charity executive, and academic administrator. Since October 2018, he has served as

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Downing College, Cambridge. He previously worked for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, and was Director of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts from 2006 to 2018.

Biography

Bookbinder was born on 16 March 1956 in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, England, 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. His mother, born Bridget Mary Doran (1930–2009), was originally from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. It was in Manchester that Alan Bookbinder spent most of his boyhood, and where he attended

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a free grammar school next to Manchester Parish Church, it moved in 1931 to its present site at ...

, an all-boys

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

. He studied history and Russian at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. His university course included a year abroad, spent at

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, some 300 miles south of Moscow. He subsequently received a Master of Arts (MA) degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, having spent a year at the Russian Research Center on a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...

. He was a journalist and producer at the

from 1986 to 2006 where, despite describing himself as "an open-hearted

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficie ...

", 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. In November 2017, Bookbinder was announced as the next

of Downing College, Cambridge, in succession to

Geoffrey Grimmett Geoffrey Richard Grimmett (born 20 December 1950) is a mathematician known for his work on the mathematics of random systems arising in probability theory and statistical mechanics, especially percolation theory and the contact process. He i ...

. On 1 October 2018, he was installed as the 18th Master of Downing College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bookbinder, Alan 1956 births Living people British journalists Masters of Downing College, Cambridge BBC people British television producers British radio producers British agnostics Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard University alumni