Ralph Lucas

Born in 1951, Ralph Lucas was educated at Eton (loathed, worked hard) and Balliol, Oxford (loved, worked hardly at all) where he read rowing and wine with physics. Four years training as a chartered accountant and twelve years investment banking with S G Warburg & Co followed, then four years learning how hard it is to run your own business. In late 1991 he inherited the title of Lord Lucas of Crudwell & Dingwall from his mother, signed on in the House of Lords to get his name on the roll...See more

Born in 1951, Ralph Lucas was educated at Eton (loathed, worked hard) and Balliol, Oxford (loved, worked hardly at all) where he read rowing and wine with physics. Four years training as a chartered accountant and twelve years investment banking with S G Warburg & Co followed, then four years learning how hard it is to run your own business. In late 1991 he inherited the title of Lord Lucas of Crudwell & Dingwall from his mother, signed on in the House of Lords to get his name on the roll before Prime Minister Kinnock threw out the hereditaries, and became a spokesman in the Lords (for education, agriculture and other ministries) for the last three years of John Major's government. He was a government whip in the Lords 1994-7 and is still there as an elected hereditary peer. Ralph's involvement in education stems from the difficulties of educating his older children (his eldest is now 22) in London independent schools, and the delights of moving them to state schools near Winchester. He married Amanda Atha, one of the founders of The Good Schools Guide, in 1995, and inherited it on her death in 2000. He has since remarried and lives in Hampshire and London. Now he is starting the education cycle all over again with his 3-year-old younger daughter. The Good Schools Guide, the House of Lords and his family take up most of Ralph's time. Political interests include education, liberty, planning and parking control (he sponsored a bill to tame parking wardens), and is chairman of the London Motorists Action Group. He is an active campaigner for reform in such areas as the school curriculum and school admissions. A lively and articulate speaker, Ralph has broadcast for radio stations such as Today, The Learning Curve, Radio 5 Live, BFBS and local BBC radio, and appeared on national television programmes such as Andrew Neil's The Daily Politics and BBC Breakfast. See less