
BOY ON A BICYCLE
A MANDARIN'S MEMOIR
Hayden Phillips(Author)
Marble Hill Publishers
Published on 16. March 2023
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-8383036-9-3 (ISBN)
Description
Our image of the civil servant has been implanted indelibly in our minds by Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister. But as this fascinating and important memoir tells us, the real life of the mandarin is very different. With disarming candour, delightful humour and impressive memory, Hayden Phillips describes the career of a man who from his earliest days was connected to events that are now part of the history of British politics in the second half of the 20th century.
Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Phillips became a civil servant in 1967 as an Assistant Principal in the Administrative class. His extraordinarily varied career was defined by working for Roy Jenkins when he was Home Secretary and later President of the European Commissioner in Brussels, IRA bombings, the Iranian Embassy siege, sending police to Zimbabwe to oversee the election, training civil servants, a stint as Deputy Secretary in the Treasury, the creation of the National Lottery for John Major, the Windsor Castle fire, the of Tate Modern, the Millennium Dome, press regulation, Princess Diana's funeral. There can be few mandarins who have taken to the boards as Sir Humphrey or had a role in a James Bond film. No surprise that, in retirement Hayden Phillips was Chairman of the National Theatre.
This is a life of variety, excitement and drama that defies all the cliched ideas about those who run the country and what they do. Phillips tells an important story filled with pen portraits of politicians and others with whom he worked on a daily basis that shows us what life at the centre of power is like. It is also the picture of a talented, charming, dedicated and fortunate man who has contributed so much to our national life.
Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Phillips became a civil servant in 1967 as an Assistant Principal in the Administrative class. His extraordinarily varied career was defined by working for Roy Jenkins when he was Home Secretary and later President of the European Commissioner in Brussels, IRA bombings, the Iranian Embassy siege, sending police to Zimbabwe to oversee the election, training civil servants, a stint as Deputy Secretary in the Treasury, the creation of the National Lottery for John Major, the Windsor Castle fire, the of Tate Modern, the Millennium Dome, press regulation, Princess Diana's funeral. There can be few mandarins who have taken to the boards as Sir Humphrey or had a role in a James Bond film. No surprise that, in retirement Hayden Phillips was Chairman of the National Theatre.
This is a life of variety, excitement and drama that defies all the cliched ideas about those who run the country and what they do. Phillips tells an important story filled with pen portraits of politicians and others with whom he worked on a daily basis that shows us what life at the centre of power is like. It is also the picture of a talented, charming, dedicated and fortunate man who has contributed so much to our national life.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Illustrations
12 black and white and colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-8383036-9-3 (9781838303693)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Hayden Phillips was born in 1943. After attending Cambridge and Yale universities, he joined the Home Office in 1967. In 1974 he became Principal Private Secretary to Roy Jenkins with whom he went to Brussels in 1977 when Jenkins became President of the European Commission. Returning to the Home Office in 1979 he served in the Police Department (he was at the Iranian Embassy Siege for its six days) and then as head of the Immigration and Nationality Department. In 1986 he moved first to the Cabinet Office and then to the Treasury from which he was appointed in 1992 to be the first Permanent Secretary of what has become the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. In 1998 he became the first non-lawyer to head the Lord Chancellor's Department. He retired from the Civil Service in 2004.
Since then he has had a variety of professional roles. In the world of culture he has served as Chairman of the National Theatre and of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. He has worked in the City joining the Boards of various companies and at Clarence House for the Prince of Wales on his charities. In 2006/7 he was asked to recommend changes to the Funding of Political Parties. From 1997 until 2021 he and his wife, Laura, had a working farm in Wiltshire where he was a Deputy Lieutenant for 10 years. He is believed to be the only serving Permanent Secretary who has played Sir Humphrey Appleby before a paying audience and he has appeared in two films - as Colonel Dent in Jane Eyre(2011) and as Spectre Agent No 4 in No Time To Die (2021), in which he dies on screen.
Currently he is the Independent Reviewer of the Rulings of the ASA, and Chairman of the Wellington Collection Management Committee and of the Salisbury Cathedral Fabric Committee.
Since then he has had a variety of professional roles. In the world of culture he has served as Chairman of the National Theatre and of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. He has worked in the City joining the Boards of various companies and at Clarence House for the Prince of Wales on his charities. In 2006/7 he was asked to recommend changes to the Funding of Political Parties. From 1997 until 2021 he and his wife, Laura, had a working farm in Wiltshire where he was a Deputy Lieutenant for 10 years. He is believed to be the only serving Permanent Secretary who has played Sir Humphrey Appleby before a paying audience and he has appeared in two films - as Colonel Dent in Jane Eyre(2011) and as Spectre Agent No 4 in No Time To Die (2021), in which he dies on screen.
Currently he is the Independent Reviewer of the Rulings of the ASA, and Chairman of the Wellington Collection Management Committee and of the Salisbury Cathedral Fabric Committee.
Content
Foreword by Peter Mandelson
Acknowledgements
Prologue - July 1967
1. London - the Private Office
2. Brussels - the Cabinet
3. Terrorism and Riots - Promotion on the Field of Battle
4. Immigration - the End of Empire
5. Finishing School - the Cabinet Office and the Treasury
6. A Ministry of Culture
7. The Majesty of the Law
8. The Theatre, the City and the Prince
9. Party Funding - A Farewell to Westminster
10. A Professional After-Life - Advertising, Art and the Movies
11. Government Service in Retrospect
12. A Sense of Place
13. Boy on a Bicycle - A Cambridge Childhood
14. University Life - Cambridge and Yale
Footnotes
Index
Acknowledgements
Prologue - July 1967
1. London - the Private Office
2. Brussels - the Cabinet
3. Terrorism and Riots - Promotion on the Field of Battle
4. Immigration - the End of Empire
5. Finishing School - the Cabinet Office and the Treasury
6. A Ministry of Culture
7. The Majesty of the Law
8. The Theatre, the City and the Prince
9. Party Funding - A Farewell to Westminster
10. A Professional After-Life - Advertising, Art and the Movies
11. Government Service in Retrospect
12. A Sense of Place
13. Boy on a Bicycle - A Cambridge Childhood
14. University Life - Cambridge and Yale
Footnotes
Index