Chris Gorell Barnes Explained

Christopher Michael Jack Gorell Barnes (born May 1974) [1] is an English digital entrepreneur and marine conservationist best known as executive producer of the documentary The End of the Line.

Early life

Gorell Barnes was born to Henry Gorell Barnes (1939-1983),[2] merchant banker and a director of Morgan Grenfell,[3] and Gillian (née Carruthers), a family therapist at the Tavistock Clinic.[4] [5] His maternal grandmother was film editor Lito Carruthers.[6] His paternal grandfather was Sir William Lethbridge Gorell Barnes (1909-1987), a War Cabinet official later of the Treasury and Colonial Office (where he was Deputy Under Secretary of State from 1959 to 1963), and who had been Personal Assistant to Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1946 to 1948.[7]

His paternal great-grandfather was Sir Frederic Gorell Barnes (1856-1939), M.P. for Faversham, Kent from 1895-1900, Assistant Food Commissioner and Commissioner of the Education and Propaganda Branch of the Ministry of Food from 1918 to 1921.[8] The Gorell Barnes family were of Ashgate House, Ashgate, Derbyshire, with the Barons Gorell descending from Henry, elder brother of Chris Gorell Barnes's ancestor Charles (1818-1886; of Mossley Hill, Lancashire, J.P., a merchant).[9] The politician and colliery owner Alfred Barnes was the youngest brother of Henry and Charles.[10] [11]

Gorell Barnes was raised in Maida Vale, and studied at Bedales and the European Business School at Regent's University London.[4] [12]

Career

Gorell Barnes founded a digital content agency called Adjust Your Set in 2008.[13] [12] [14]

He was named by the London Evening Standard newspaper in 2013 as one of the most powerful 'Tech Stars' in the UK.[15] Gorell Barnes has sat on the board of Eagle Eye Solutions, a digital consumerism business, since 2007.[16] Other board members include Sir Terry Leahy, former Tesco chief executive.[17]

Gorell Barnes was executive producer for The End of the Line, a documentary film that changed attitudes towards seafood, including among companies such as Pret A Manger and Marks & Spencer.[18] [19]

It won the inaugural Puma Creative Impact Award in 2011 for its success in changing consumer behaviour.[20] [21]

A study by the BRITDOC Foundation found that it had been seen by more than one million people and had created press and media attention worth more than £4 million.[22] The film was described by the Chicago Tribune as "an apocalyptic documentary that is as beautiful as it is damning".[23]

Marine conservation

In 2009, Gorell Barnes and fellow producer George Duffield founded a marine conservation charity, the Blue Marine Foundation which aims to create marine reserves.[13] [24] [25] [26] In 2010 it brokered a deal that created a huge marine reserve around the Chagos Islands[27] and two years later one that protected the waters around Turneffe Atoll in the Caribbean.[28] Among its supporters is Helena Bonham Carter.[29] [30]

Personal life

Gorell Barnes lives in London with his long-term partner Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho. Their identical twin sons, Milo and Felix, were born in 2016.[31]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Christopher Michael Jack GORELL BARNES - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House). beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  2. Gov.uk Probate Record Search, Surname 'Barnes', Year of Death '1984' (n.b. date of death given as 13 November 1983), p. 495
  3. News: Barnaby J.. Feder . London Exchange Entering New Era . The New York Times . 17 November 1983. NYTimes.com.
  4. News: Hattie Williams . 13 April 2014 . How I made it: Chris Gorell Barnes, founder of Adjust Your Set . The Sunday Times . 27 November 2018.
  5. Book: Working with Families . Gill Gorell Barnes . Macmillan . 1984 . iv.
  6. Marriages. The Elizabethan . July 1966 . XXIX No 1 . 661 . 24 .
  7. Book: The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources since 1945 . Chris Cook . Routledge . 2006 . 13.
  8. Book: Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 2 – From 1752 to 1900, Part 1: Abbey-Challis . John Venn . J. A. Venn . Cambridge University Press . 162.
  9. Book: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage . 2003 . 2 . 1597.
  10. News: Obituary - Alfred Barnes . The Times . 36625 . London . 29 November 1901 . 6.
  11. Book: Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat Armour . 7th . Arthur Charles Fox-Davies . Hurst & Blackett, Ltd . 1929 . 96.
  12. Web site: Chris Gorell Barnes' video venture Adjust Your Set is really . 15 July 2013. Evening Standard.
  13. News: How I made it: Chris Gorell Barnes, founder of Adjust Your Set. Hattie. Williams . www.thetimes.co.uk.
  14. News: Let us show you the way ... . The Sunday Times.
  15. Web site: The Power 1000 - London's most influential people 2013: Tech stars. 19 September 2013. Evening Standard.
  16. Web site: London Stock Exchange | London Stock Exchange. New issues . London Stock Exchange . www.londonstockexchange.com.
  17. Web site: Ashley . Armstrong. 6 July 2015. The Telegraph . Sainsbury's strikes deal with Sir Terry Leahy-backed Eagle Eye.
  18. Web site: Film prompts Pret a Manger to change its tuna. 8 June 2009. The Guardian.
  19. Web site: M&S lines up behind ban on endangered bluefin tuna. 9 June 2009. Evening Standard.
  20. Web site: Press release on Puma site . 10 September 2015 . dead . 26 April 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120426063317/http://creative.puma.com/us/en/2011/10/first-annual-puma-creative-impact-award-gala-for-documentary-film/.
  21. Web site: The End Of The Line nets Puma Creative Impact Award . Sarah . Cooper . 2011-10-12 . Screen.
  22. Web site: The BRITDOC study document .
  23. Web site: Forget pirates; fear the fishermen. Kenneth . Turan . chicagotribune.com. 17 July 2009 .
  24. Web site: SuperYacht Times . https://www.superyachttimes.com/editorial/51/article/id/9966 .
  25. Web site: Creating partnerships for a healthy ocean . Blue Marine Foundation.
  26. Web site: 10 June 2015 . Blue Marine Foundation 5th birthday party . Tatler.
  27. Web site: Billionaire saves marine reserve plans. 12 September 2010. The Independent.
  28. News: Robin Henry . Frank Pope . November 25, 2012 . Beauty and the reef: billionairess dives in to save coral . www.thetimes.co.uk . subscription.
  29. Web site: Anita. Singh. 11 February 2015 . Helena Bonham Carter gets naked with giant tuna . www.telegraph.co.uk.
  30. Web site: Helena Bonham Carter poses naked with fish in new campaign, despite fish phobia . Zayda . Rivera . nydailynews.com. 11 February 2015 .
  31. Web site: Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox becomes mother 12 years after devastating car crash. Henry. Bodkin. 5 June 2016. www.telegraph.co.uk.