Sir Bernard Ingham

Sir Bernard Ingham was born the son of cotton weavers, in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, in1932. He was educated at Hebden Bridge Grammar School and joined the local paper; The Hebden Bridge Times, at the age of 16. He subsequently worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Yorkshire Post, latterly as Northern Industrial Correspondent, and The Guardian where he became a member of its labour staff in London 1965.

In 1967 he joined the Civil Service as Press and Public Relations Advisor to the National Board for Prices and Incomes, intending to return to journalism after two years. It took him 24 years to get back! In between, he was Director of Information in the Department of Employment and Energy, and Head, as Under Secretary, of the Department of Energyt's first energy conservation division before spending eleven years as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Chief Press Secretary in No 10 Downing Street.

From 1989-90 he was also Head of the Government Information Service. In the course of his Civil Service career Sir Bernard was also press secretary to Barbara Castle, Robert Carr, Maurice Macmillan, Lord Carrington, Eric Varley and Tony Benn. He was knighted on Mrs Thatcher's resignation - and retirement - in 1990.

He is now a columnist for PR Week, Retail Week, Business Franchise and the paper on which he started his career, The Hebden Times. He is also a regular broadcaster, notably as a reviewer of newspapers for BBC's Breakfast News.