Dame Gail Rebuck, Baroness Gould of Brookwood DBE (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher, chairman and chief executive of Random House UK. She was married to Philip Gould, Lord Gould of Brookwood until his death in November 2011.
Rebuck's Latvian grandfather sold rags from a barrow, and her father was also in the rag trade. At the age of four she was sent to the South Kensington Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, learning there to read and write in French before she did in English.[1] She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from Sussex University in 1974.[2] After working for various small publishers, and running a paperback imprint for Hamlyn, she put funds of her own into a new imprint, Century. After a merger with Hutchinson in 1985, Century Hutchinson was taken over by Random House UK in 1989. Rebuck was appointed Chair and Chief Executive of Random House UK in 1991.[2]
Rebuck was awarded a CBE in the 2000 honours list,[2] and made a Dame in 2009.[3] She was listed at fifth place in a 2006 Observer list of the top people in the British books industry,[4] and at ninth place in a 2011 Guardian version of the list.[5]