Sir Frank Barlow 2000

PRESIDENT 2000

SIR FRANK BARLOW CBE (BBGS  1941-1946)

I was surprised and flattered to be invited to become President of the Old Barrovians Association.

In retrospect I now realise that I was lucky to have been at Barrow Grammar School during what surely must have been a golden era despite the war. During this period the school was awarded more state bursaries to universities than any other school in the country!

On the sports field we were dominant. Bill Benson recently gave me an old photograph of the school junior soccer team taken in 1943. In that picture alone was Olympic hurdler Joe Birrell, English Rugby International Reg Bazley, Ron Slater, a County Rugby Player and Barbarian, Brian McSweeney, English national javelin champion and a good fast bowler. There were many more. A.B. Parker who ran for England, Bill Caine who played Rugby League for Barrow when they were one of the best teams in the country, and soccer for Barrow when they were in the 3rd division, Brian (Bugs) Bennet, Ron Brocklebank, Jack and Pop Coombes.     

                                                                                                                                                   
The early part of my career was spent abroad; Nigeria, Ghana, Barbados, Trinidad, and British Guyana managing newspapers for the Mirror Group: then the biggest publishing group in the world.After a spell in Northern Ireland, I joined the Pearson Group as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of one of their regional newspaper companies. I eventually became CEO of the Financial Times, and in 1987, I became CEO of Pearson p.l.c., which is the 24th biggest company in the U.K., with a market capital of about £14 billion. At the request of the chairman I deferred my retirement until I was 67. During part of this time I was also Chairman of Sky TV.

I met my wife Pat when we were both serving in the Royal Navy, and we have a son, a daughter and five grandchildren. We are lucky enough to own a house in the Duddon Valley, which we visit as often as possible, but sadly not enough, mainly because I am Chairman of Logica plc., Vice Chairman of Recolteos S.A. a Spanish company, and Chairman of a national charity. Any free time that I have is spent on the golf course (handicap 13; was 6 until work intervened) or fishing for salmon and sea trout. Last year I spent a week on the Varzuga in Russia - the best Salmon River in the world - and a week on the Rio Grande in Argentina.

            My ambition for the OBA is that we continue to recruit members, broaden the scope of our activities and provide as much assistance to the Sixth Form College as possible.

Sir Frank died in November 2019.