Biography
Born Fiona Sara Charkham in London, she is the daughter of Jonathan Charkham, an advisor to The Bank of England and economist, and Moira Elizabeth Frances Salmon, daughter of Barnett Alfred and Molly Salmon. Her mother's family, the Salmon family, were co-owners of the J. Lyons & Co. cornerhouse empire.
Through the Salmon family, Shackleton is a cousin to Nigella and Dominic Lawson, and George Monbiot. Shackleton was educated at Benenden School in Kent. She had ambitions to be a doctor, but was discouraged because she was thought not to be clever enough. She attended Exeter University, graduating with a third class degree in law. Shackleton then trained as a cordon bleu chef, and became an executive caterer for boardrooms before training to be a solicitor. In July 2010, she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Exeter in the form of an LL.D.
On 21 December 2010, the Queen created Shackleton a life peer as Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, of Belgravia in the City of Westminster. She will sit as a Conservative in the House of Lords.
Read more about this topic: Fiona Shackleton
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“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
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