Sir Hereward Wake is able to trace his family back 1,000 years to the time when his ancestor Hereward the Wake defied William the Conqueror on the Isle of Ely. He holds one of England’s oldest baronetcies and his family have lived in Northamptonshire for more than 800 years.

He has been an active member in the region’s local government and voluntary organisations for fifty years. Having used the name ‘Hereward’ in the last five generations, his father used to recite the Lord’s Prayer as, "Our Father who Art in Heaven, ‘Hereward’ be Thy Name...".