This International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021, St Hugh’s alumni, students, Fellows, staff and friends are warmly invited to join us for an evening with celebrated actress and writer, and Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s, Rebecca Front (English, 1982). This very special online event will be hosted by the Principal, the Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC, and will launch the College’s programme of celebrations to mark 100 years of Oxford degrees for women.
This event will take place via Zoom webinar. To register to attend, please fill in our booking form below by 12 noon on 8 March. The event is free but we ask you to consider making a donation to the College’s Covid-19 Support Fund when you book your ticket. For further information about the Fund and the critical role your donations play in supporting the College at this particularly challenging time, please click here.
Please note that you do not need a Paypal account to make a donation online when you book your ticket. If you would prefer to make a donation over the phone, please do book a free ticket below and telephone Hannah Manito on +44 (0)1865 613839 during office hours (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm).
Joining details will be sent out to those who have registered the day before the event (please ensure that you enter your email address carefully on the booking form).
Please note that St Hugh’s College’s virtual events may be recorded.
Photo: Wolf Marloh
Rebecca Front read English Language and Literature at St Hugh’s College, matriculating in 1982. In 2020, Rebecca was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s College by Governing Body in recognition of her incredible contribution to the British entertainment industry and her charity work to raise awareness about mental health.
Rebecca became involved in comedy while studying at the College, indeed her first comedy performances were at St Hugh’s itself, in a sketch show co-written with her brother, Jeremy. She toured with the Oxford Theatre Group in 1984, becoming the first female President of the Oxford Revue and taking part in their ‘Stop the Weak’ tour.
Rebecca is known for her work in numerous comedies, including The Thick of It (2009-2012), for which she won the 2010 BAFTA TV award for Best Female Comedy Performance; The Day Today (1994); Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge (1994); Big Train (2002); Nighty Night (2004-2005); Psychobitches (2012-2014); The Other One (2020); and Avenue 5 (2020). In recent years Rebecca has also become a fixture on comedy panel shows on British television and radio including The News Quiz and Have I Got News for You.
Rebecca is equally known for her dramatic roles, including Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent in Lewis (2006–2014), Mrs Bennet in Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), Mrs Landau in The Eichmann Show (2015), Vera in Humans (2015), Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya in War & Peace (2016), Alice in Queers (2017), and Lady Whitworth in Poldark (2018-2019).
She has appeared in feature films such as The Aeronauts (2019), Down A Dark Hall (2018) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), and starred in innumerable radio shows including Incredible Women, Shush (which she co-wrote), and Jack and Millie.
Rebecca is also the author of two books, Impossible Things Before Breakfast and Curious – True Stories and Loose Connections, a collection of autobiographical stories which was shortlisted for the National Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
Rebecca has worked with several charities to raise awareness about mental health and is a Patron of Anxiety UK. She is also an ambassador for Together For Short Lives and the deaf-blind charity Sense.
