Baroness Ruth Deech at Christ’s Hospital

On Wednesday September 10, Baroness Ruth Deech (former pupil) came to Christ’s Hospital to give the inaugural lecture entitled ‘Creating the Humans of our Choice – Science and Control’ in a new programme of visiting speakers at the School.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Sep 2014, 13:27 BST
Baroness Ruth Deech at Christ's Hospital. Picture by Toby Phillips SUS-140922-123122001Baroness Ruth Deech at Christ's Hospital. Picture by Toby Phillips SUS-140922-123122001
Baroness Ruth Deech at Christ's Hospital. Picture by Toby Phillips SUS-140922-123122001

Lady Deech is a former principal of St Anne’s College, Oxford; a former governor of the BBC; a QC; Chair of the Bar Standards Board; and a member of the House of Lords.

Before her talk, she had dinner with a number of staff and pupils, including two, Rameez Satenay-West and Iyere Laditi, who are applying to read Law at Oxford, and gave them the benefit of her advice about how to prepare.

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For the lecture itself, Lady Deech spoke about issues related to her work as Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

As well as the thorny legal and ethical issues she had to face, she talked more personally about her time at Hertford School, the secret of her success, and also how she dealt with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight!

At the end of her lecture, Senior Grecian (Head pupil), James Winsbury, thanked her for what he said was a highly interesting and witty talk and presented her with a book of facsimile copies of the earliest legal documents relating to the founding of Christ’s Hospital in 1552 (the original manuscripts are kept in the Christ’s Hospital archive) as a token of thanks.

Report contributed by Christ’s Hospital. Photos by Toby Phillips.

Related topics:Science