Arnold Goodman was born at
Hackney, London, son of Jewish parents Joseph Goodman (1879/80–1940), a master
draper, and Bertha (1887–1959), daughter of Joseph Mauerberger, owner of a
Stepney drapery business. His first name was given on his birth certificate as "Aby", which was corrected by his father only in 1931. The Goodman family were comfortably prosperous, as Goodman described in profiles. He was educated at
Hackney Downs School (formerly The Grocers' Company School),
University College London, and
Downing College, Cambridge. He became a leading London lawyer as Senior Partner in the law firm Goodman, Derrick & Co (subsequently Goodman Derrick LLP and now RWK Goodman LLP). Lord Goodman was chairman of the
Arts Council of Great Britain from 1965 until 1972, succeeded by
Lord Gibson. As chair of the Arts Council, Goodman managed the organisation's 'golden age' with the establishing of the
South Bank Centre and adoption of the only
UK government bill for
the Arts while the Council began regular funding for a number of galleries and theatre companies in the English regions. He was also chairman of
British Lion Films, the Committee of Inquiry into Charity Law, the Committee on London Orchestras, the
Housing Corporation, the National Building Agency, the Newspaper Proprietors' Association, and
The Observer Trust, as well as being Director of the
Royal Opera House and
Sadler's Wells, Governor of the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a member of the Planning Committee for the Open University and President of the Theatrical Advisory Committee. He was a Senior Fellow of the
Royal College of Art and an
Honorary Fellow of the
Royal College of Art. He was also a founder and patron of the Next Century Foundation. He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) by the
University of Bath in 1976. On 7 November of the same year, he formally opened the British Music Information Centre (BMIC). Publisher
Rupert Hart-Davis was a client when Goodman was a partner in Rubenstein Nash; Goodman reached an agreement with
Winston Churchill and
Lord Beaverbrook over
G. M. Young's life of
Stanley Baldwin in 1952, though it required the "hideously expensive" job of removing and replacing seven leaves with revised wording in 7,580 copies of the book. In 1963, Goodman (now in his own firm, Goodman Derrick) arranged for
Granada Television to take over Hart-Davis's loss-making publishing firm and Hart-Davis "wasn't surprised when he became a leading trouble-shooter for the government". After hearing details of the firm's finances for ten or fifteen minutes Goodman dictated everything back to his secretary: "the most amazing feat of mental agility I've ever seen or heard of". In 1977, Goodman founded the
Motability scheme for disabled motorists with
Jeffrey Sterling. Later in his career, Lord Goodman was
Master of
University College, Oxford, succeeding
Lord Redcliffe-Maud in 1976. He retired from the post in 1986 and died from
pneumonia on 12 May 1995. Arnold Goodman was created a
life peer as
Baron Goodman, of the
City of Westminster in 1965 and sat as a
Crossbencher. He was made a
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1972. ==Criticisms==