Greg Hands

Greg was born in 1965 to British parents in New York, and he lived in the USA until he was seven years old. After moving back to the UK, Greg attended state schools in England, but his family was constantly on the move owing to the closure of grammar schools under the Labour Government (1974 - 1979). ?After leaving Dr Challoner's Grammar School in... 1984, Greg set a trend by taking a "gap year", during which he worked as an attendant at a swimming pool in what was then West Berlin. It was during this first spell in Berlin that Greg developed his strong interest in the plight of the captive nations of Eastern Europe, and travelled through East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania on a number of occasions. Thereafter, Greg went up to Cambridge University to read Modern History. Already fluent in German and French, Greg also learned Czech and Slovak to a good standard. During his university vacations between 1985 and 1989 Greg spent further spells in West Berlin, where he worked in the McDonald's at Bahnhof Zoo and the KaDeWe department store, and in Prague. Leaving Cambridge with a first-class honours degree in Modern History in 1989, Greg embarked on a career in the City, where he worked in derivatives during his eight years in banking. Greg moved to Fulham in 1990, and has lived there ever since, although from 1991 he did have to shuttle between London and New York City because of work commitments. During those years Greg was a member of the Friends of Rudy Giuliani in New York, and in 1993 Greg helped his campaign to become the first Republican Mayor of New York City for many decades. Greg left banking in 1997. ?To this day, Greg lives in Fulham with his wife, Irina, his daughter, Helena, who was born in 2006, and his son, Martin, who was born in 2007.Read More