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The Fellowship
Hall of Fame
 Sir Denis Rooke OM CBE FRS FREng
President of The Royal Academy of Engineering 1986-1991
Sir Denis Rooke’s
great technical achievement and lasting
legacy was to build the UK’s gas
distribution network and unite the gas
industry, making domestic gas a cheap and
convenient fuel source for millions of
people.
He acquired an awesome reputation as
the 'lion of British Gas' in the 1980s as
the Conservative Government threatened to
break up the British Gas Corporation during
privatisation. His devoted employees saw him
as the defender of 'his' Gas Company against
the most determined of politicians. Famously
he said "Whilst I have to deal with
politicians, that does not mean that I have
to like them." Eventually he struck a deal
with Energy Minister Peter Walker and the
gas transmission, distribution and retailing
business was turned, by Act of Parliament,
from a publicly-owned single monopoly into a
single private-sector monopoly, British Gas
plc.
Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former
Chancellor of the Exchequer, was among those
Conservatives who would have preferred to
break up the British Gas Corporation to
encourage competition (a step taken
ultimately in the 1990s). He reveals in his
memoirs a certain awe of Sir Denis, having
been on the receiving end of his championing
of the gas industry, describing him as “a
large, craggy, overbearing man ... treating
Ministers and officials alike with a mixture
of distrust, dislike and contempt ... To
break up the Corporation in any way was a
negation of his life's work”.
Since retiring
from British Gas, Sir Denis has devoted his
talent and determination to engineering
education, becoming Chancellor of
Loughborough University in 1989. As
President of The Academy he drove the
development of its education programme and
involved Fellows from industry.
He has
served on many national advisory committees
on both energy policy and education. He has
been Chairman of the Trustees of the Science
Museum, Chairman of the National Museum of
Photography, Film and Television in Bradford
and Chairman of the Management Committee of
the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of
1851.
Awarded a CBE in 1970 and knighted in
1977 for his service to the gas industry,
Sir Denis was elected to The Academy in 1977
and to the Royal Society in 1978. He won The
Academy’s Prince Philip Medal for
engineering achievement in 1992 and the
Society’s Rumford Medal in 1986. He has also
won the James Watt International Medal of
the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the
George E Davis Medal of the Institution of
Chemical Engineers and the Gold and
Birmingham Medals of the Institution of Gas
Engineers, together with numerous awards and
fellowships from universities and colleges.
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1924 |
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Born in London on 2 April
Attends Westminster City School and Addey and Stanhope School. |
| 1944 |
Graduates from UCL in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering |
| 1944 |
Serves with REME in India and Britain, promoted to Major |
| 1949 |
Joins South Eastern Gas Board, later becoming Development Engineer |
| 1960 |
Development Engineer of the Gas Council |
| 1972 |
Deputy Chairman of the Gas Council, later the British Gas Corporation |
| 1976 |
Chairman of British Gas |
| 1986 |
Oversees privatisation and becomes Chairman of British Gas plc (until retirement in 1989). Elected President of The Royal Academy of Engineering |
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Chancellor of Loughborough University |
| 1997 |
Appointed to the Order of Merit |
| 2008 |
Dies 2
September aged 84 |
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