Fiona Reynolds

This clip is from a series of 100 life history interviews with environmental campaigners in the UK, 1970-2020. It will feature in a book published by UCL Press in 2026. The full interview, along with the rest of the collection will be searchable on the British Library’s Sound and Moving Image catalogue and the interviews will be accessible onsite at the British Library in St Pancras from February 2026. For more information visit www.royalholloway.ac.uk/ohemQuotation:Toby Butler: So just a little bit more about Robin Grove-White and his, the way he worked. Could you sort of tell me a little bit more about, because it sounds it like he made quite an impression.Fiona Reynolds: Huge impression because he was the most interesting, most thoughtful person I think I have ever come across. And his approach was based on quite deep foundations. So, you know, sometimes you’d be talking to people and they’d say, ‘Oh let’s have a go at this, let’s have a go that.’ That wasn’t Robin’s approach, you know. He would come from something from a really principled perspective. But he was also, he had this sort of glint in his eye and he'd see someone in his sights and he would be like a razor, a laser beam, you know, ‘How are we going to get this issue to this person?’ And [he] would know when to commission research, when to get some legal advice, when to have an absolutely devastating press campaign. He could whip up a press campaign incredibly powerfully. And when to go softly, softly and to be the friend at court. And it was masterful, really masterful. And I do believe that CPRE’s incredible influence in the eighties and nineties in particular was down to Robin. And when I eventually took over from him, you know, I saw my job as somehow keeping that reputation and that set of skills and that set of tools going, you know, into whatever the challenge was for the future. But he was masterful and remains so. In fact I’m seeing him this week, seeing him tomorrow, yes tomorrow in Cambridge, yes. He’s written a book, I’m sure you know that, yes.Toby Butler: Fantastic. Okay, thank you, that’s great. Yes indeed he is in the archive too. So if you listen to this, tune in, over to the Robin Grove-White interview.British Library catalogue number: C2037/17 Project clip number: 109