Sidney elects four Honorary Fellows: all women to celebrate 50 years of women at Sidney

Dr Helen Castor

Helen is a historian of the late Middle Ages and sixteenth century, and a former Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Sidney. Her books include She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before Elizabeth and the prize-winning Blood & Roses: The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century and Joan of Arc: A History. She has presented a range of radio and television programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, including documentaries based on She-Wolves and Joan of Arc. Her most recent book, The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography and the Wolfson History Prize 2025, and named The Telegraph’s book of the year for 2024. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was a judge for the 2022 Booker Prize.

“Sidney’s fellowship, students, and extraordinary community have had a deeply formative effect on my life and work, which makes it a pleasure, as well as a privilege, to accept this Honorary Fellowship. It’s always meant a great deal to be part of a college founded by a remarkable woman, Lady Frances Sidney, during the reign of Elizabeth I, so the timing - on the 50th anniversary of the College’s decision to admit women - is a particular joy.”

Dr Helen Castor

Sherry Coutu CBE

Sherry is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has made a profound impact on the UK’s digital, financial, and education sectors. Originally from a small lumber town in Canada, she came to the UK to pursue a Master’s in Economics at the LSE and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

She founded Interactive Investor, one of the UK’s first online financial services platforms, and led it through a record-breaking IPO. Sherry has since invested in over 70 early-stage companies, including LinkedIn and Zoopla, and has served on the boards of major institutions such as the London Stock Exchange Group, Raspberry Pi plc, and Pearson plc. She is currently Senior Independent Director at Raspberry Pi and sits on the boards of Pearson and Phoenix Group.

Deeply committed to public service and education, Sherry founded Founders4Schools, Digital Boost, and the Scale-Up Institute - initiatives focused on bridging the skills gap and supporting entrepreneurs. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including the CBE for services to entrepreneurship and the EY Lifetime Achievement Award. She holds four honorary doctorates in recognition of her contributions to business and education.

"Receiving this Fellowship feels profoundly meaningful. Sidney Sussex transformed me from a Canadian immigrant living in London into a true Cantabrigian, with the 1596 Foundation as my compass. The College didn't just welcome me - it embraced me. Now, as an Honorary Fellow, I can deepen my commitment to this remarkable community."

Sherry Coutu CBE

Rt Hon Dame Sarah Falk DBE

Sarah grew up in Hertfordshire before reading Law at Sidney Sussex College between 1980 and 1983. She chose to become a solicitor and, after taking the solicitors’ final exams, joined the city law firm Freshfields as a trainee, qualifying as a solicitor in 1986 and becoming a partner in 1994.

In her work as a solicitor Sarah specialised in corporate tax. Her work included advice on the structuring and implementation of a wide range of commercial transactions, both in the UK and internationally. She was also very actively involved in training and mentoring, and played a significant role in promoting greater diversity at Freshfields. She retired as a partner in 2013 but remained as a consultant until 2018.

In 2015 Sarah was appointed as a fee-paid Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) and sat regularly in the Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, as well as sitting in the Upper Tribunal. She was appointed as a High Court Judge in 2018, assigned to the Chancery Division. Sarah was a Judicial Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission between 2019 and 2022. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal in November 2022.

“Sidney provided a fantastic springboard to my career, as well as being a great experience. The quality of teaching by John Thornely and others was inspirational and instilled invaluable skills. I also enjoyed college life to the full, with activities ranging from the Choir to coxing, and made long-term friends. I am honoured to be appointed as an Honorary Fellow.”

Rt Hon Dame Sarah Falk DBE

Carol Vorderman MBE

Carol grew up in poverty in North Wales in a single parent family. After naturally excelling in her comprehensive school in Rhyl, in 1978 and at the age of 17, she became the first student on free school meals to go to Cambridge University from North Wales.

At Sidney Sussex, under our beloved Mr Donald Green, she studied Engineering and worked underground and on construction sites. It was her famed numerical skills which first granted her a spot on the TV show Countdown, as the ‘vital statistician’ answering the ‘numbers game’. Countdown was the first show ever to be broadcast on the new Channel 4 back in 1982.

Since then, she has become a national broadcaster, media personality, and writer known to all.

She has worked with both Labour and Conservative governments over the decades in the fields of online safety for children, and maths education. Her maths books remain the best sellers for primary age and her online school The Maths Factor has been teaching children their numbers since 2010, including teaching over a half a million children during the first lockdown in 2020.

Carol was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2000. She has also worked as a newspaper columnist and as a firm favourite radio host on LBC.

Carol has always adored Sidney Sussex and credited the college and the Fellows at that time for changing her life, and also the life of her family.

“I feel utterly privileged to be granted an Honorary Fellowship from the College I have loved for almost 50 years. I applied to Sidney Sussex in the winter of 1977 as a free school meals kid from a small comprehensive in North Wales. The odds were wholly stacked against children like me, but not at Sidney. Interviewed by Mr Donald Green and Keith Glover I walked on air when I received my offer in the post. I couldn’t sit the Oxbridge Exam at my school, I didn’t even know what it was, so I was given a rare conditional offer. I was just 17 when I came up to College to read Engineering and this place changed my life in so very many ways. It taught me about fairness, social mobility, hard work, passion and a bit of engineering too! Thank you for taking me in back in 1977 and thank you for granting me an Honorary Fellowship. I could not be more proud. I only wish my dear Mum was alive to see it. She would have burst with happiness.”

Carol Vorderman MBE