Sir Peter John Goulden (born 21 February 1941) is a British retired diplomat who was Ambassador to Turkey from 1992 until 1995, then Permanent Representative to the

North Atlantic Council The North Atlantic Council (NAC) is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), consisting of permanent representatives of its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North A ...

and to the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

1995–2001. Subsequently, he was a member of the

Security Commission The Security Commission, sometimes known as the Standing Security Commission,Geoffrey Philip Wilson, "Cases and materials on constitutional and administrative law", Cambridge University Press, 1976 p. 98. was a UK non-departmental public body or ...

Early years

Goulden was educated at King Edward VII School in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...

, where he read history, taking the University History Prize in 1961 and graduating with first class honours in 1962.

Career

Joining the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

, Goulden studied Turkish at London University and served in Ankara from 1963 to 1967. He spent three years as a Second Secretary on the Hungary/Romania/Czechoslovakia desk in the Foreign Office from 1967 to 1969, before spending 18 months in Manila. From 1971 to 1974 he was in the Planning Staff in the Foreign Office. From 1974 to 1976 he ran the Foreign Office's recruitment programme, taking off a month in 1974 to join the Geneva negotiations on Cyprus. He was Head of Chancery in Dublin from 1976 to 1979, returning to be Assistant Head of Defence Department responsible for NATO affairs from 1979 to 1981. From there he was promoted to become Head of Personnel Services Department and later Head of News Department and

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

Spokesman from 1982 to 1984. Between 1984 and 1987 he served as Head of Chancery at the UK Representation to the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

in Brussels, returning to London as Assistant Under-Secretary of State (Defence) at the FCO from 1988 to 1992. From 1992 to 1995 he was Ambassador in Ankara. He took up post as the United Kingdom Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council and to the Western European Union on 3 April 1995. After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Goulden began to pursue his interest in the revolution in musical performance during the early nineteenth century and the role in this of the conductor and composer Michael Costa. He was awarded a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degree in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in 2012. His PhD thesis was ''Michael Costa, England's First Conductor: The Revolution in Musical Performance in England, 1830–1880''Michael Costa, England’s First Conductor: The Revolution in Musical Performance in England 1830–80
(2012) – Durham e-Theses and his book with the same title was published in 2015.

Publications

''Michael Costa: England's First Conductor: The Revolution in Musical Performance in England, 1830–1880''
(Ashgate, 2015).

Personal

Lady (Diana) Goulden studied theatre at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They have a son (born 1967) and a daughter (born 1970)

References

GOULDEN, Sir (Peter) John
''Who's Who 2016'', A & C Black, 2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2015)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goulden, John 1941 births Living people People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Members of HM Diplomatic Service Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to NATO Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George British musicologists 20th-century British diplomats