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Honorary Doctor of Letters, 1998
Bio | Citation

Sir Terence Beckett took an Engineering Cadetship during the war and was made a Graduate of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He then served as a Captain in REME in the UK, India and Malaya. Following this, he gained an Economics Degree at London University. He joined Ford Motor Company Limited in 1950 and became the youngest ever Divisional Manager five years later at 32, in charge of Product Planning. In 1974 he became Managing Director and Chief Executive and two years later, Chairman. He was also a director of ICI. He was Director General of the the Confederation of British Industry from 1980 to 1987 and a member of the Top Salaries Review Body and the Engineering Industries Council.

He has served as Chairman of the Governing Body of the London Business School and Chairman of Council of the University of Essex. He was a member of the Council at what became Anglia Ruskin University when it sought Polytechnic status. He received the CBE in 1974, was knighted in 1978 and made a KBE in 1987.

In 1998 Sir Terence Beckett was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters.
Areas Of Interest: Business
Faculty: Lord Ashcroft International Business School
Citation:

"The Senate of Anglia Polytechnic University has great pleasure in recommending the award of an Honorary Doctor of Letters to Sir Terence Beckett.

There was a period during the past 30 years when the face of Sir Terence Beckett was frequently to be seen on television. As the then Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry he was frequently in demand as a contributor to the votes and as a commentator on aspects of the Economic Health of this Country. Anyone who watched his performance could hardly have failed to be impressed by his authoritative approach to the subject and, in a new era given over to sound bites, aware that behind his comments was a grasp and depth of understanding about British Industries which was pre-eminent amongst his peers. Indeed, it was for these qualities that he was chosen by them as the Director General.

It was a quality, which would often bring him into debate with those in political power, but it was also one which people recognised for its authoritative nature.

Sir Terence Beckett, KBE, DL became an engineering cadet during the years of the Second World War for taking a degree in economics at the London School of Economics. He served in the Regiment of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and when, demobbed, became Company trainee at the Ford Motor Company Ltd. I often wonder - but have never asked him - what career plans he may have had when he started work at the company in 1950. His progression was to be dramatic and brilliant. From joining Fords as a graduate trainee in Economics and Engineering he was soon to encounter the politics of the boardroom as an assistant to Sir Peter Hennessy who was then Number 2 at Ford UK. Within 5 years Sir Terence Beckett was manager of Product Planning and, at 32, the youngest divisional manager in the company's history. His division was responsible for the car which is inseparably linked with the Essex person - the Ford Cortina (although that excluded the add-on accessories of the woolly dices that can often be seen bouncing as you drive along Essex roads). The division was also responsible for the Ford Transit van and the 'D' Series Truck.

Success followed success and he became the company's Sales Director for the whole of Europe thus demonstrating, as he was to do so on many subsequent occasions, the ability to effortlessly move from one area of activity to another; in this case, from Engineering to Marketing.

In 1974 he became Managing Director of Ford UK and then, as if this were not enough, he became Chairman two years later. It was during this period with Ford that he emerged as an outstanding voice not only for the CBI but also for the British Institute of Management. It could be therefore, no surprise that he should be appointed as its Director General in 1980.

Throughout his professional life he has served a number of bodies in a variety of many different ways. He has been a Director of ICI, a member of the Central Electricity Generating Board and has worked with the Milk Marketing Board and Dairy Trade Federation. For 5 years he was a member of the Top Salaries Review Body and of the Engineering Industries Council as well as that of the British Institute of Management.

He has served a number of education establishments as a Governor or as a member of their senior committees. He has been a member of the Court of Cranfield Institute of Technology, a Governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a Governor and member of the Court of the London School of Economics - an august institution which elected him as an Honorary Fellow in 1995. He has been Chairman of the Governing Body of the London Business School and also a member of the Court and Council of the University of Essex becoming Chairman of the Council in 1989 and Pro-Chancellor in the same year. During that period, he also was to serve this University in a previous incarnation when it was the Anglia Institute of Higher Education. He was a member of its Governing Body during the time that it was seeking to become a Polytechnic and was to give help and considered guidance to its then Director.

He has long been a keen enthusiast in the world of music and also ornithology and it is a pleasure to have him in the audience on those occasions when a critical but sympathetic appraisal is needed. His list of Honorary Awards is extensive including (amongst others) Honorary Doctor of Science from Cranfield, Herriot Watt and the University of London. His public work was recognised by the award of a CBE in 1974 and he was made Knight of the British Empire in 1987.

In an editorial published in 1980 at the time of his appointment with the CBI the writer summed him up as someone "who is always approachable, is interested in people, believes in communication, does not keep unnecessary secrets to himself, and does not seek praise". He is generous with his time and support and is a good friend to Anglia Polytechnic University.

It is therefore, with great pleasure that I invite you, Vice-Chancellor, on behalf of the Chancellor of the University to confer an Honorary Doctor of Letters on Sir Terence Beckett."

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