Jennie Lee

The first Minister for the Arts and founder of the Open University, many people will never have heard of her work, yet it has inspired and enabled so many.

Jennie Lee left her coal-mining family in Scotland and fought with her every breath for the betterment of all our lives. She believed that every person deserved their share of the fruits of the earth—for wages, health, and housing, and for art and education too.

Tenacious, bold, and rebellious, Jennie cut her own path through history.

Her role in the foundation of the Open University and the expansion of the Arts Council aided Jennie’s fight for bread and roses, and in doing so, changed the twentieth century.

Oh yes, and founder of the NHS Nye Bevan was her husband. But Jennie is no footnote in someone else’s past.