Robin Cook was born in Bellshill, Scotland, the only son of Peter and Christina Cook. His father was a science teacher and his grandfather was a miner before being blacklisted for being involved in a strike.

Cook was educated at Aberdeen grammar school and, from 1960, the Royal High School in Edinburgh. At first, Cook intended to become a Church of Scotland minister, but lost his faith as he discovered politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1965 and became an Atheist. He remained so for the rest of his life. He then studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh earning a 2:1 BA Honours Degree in English Literature. Cook then obtained a MA. He studied for a ...

Robin Cook was born in Bellshill, Scotland, the only son of Peter and Christina Cook. His father was a science teacher and his grandfather was a miner before being blacklisted for being involved in a strike.

Cook was educated at Aberdeen grammar school and, from 1960, the Royal High School in Edinburgh. At first, Cook intended to become a Church of Scotland minister, but lost his faith as he discovered politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1965 and became an Atheist. He remained so for the rest of his life. He then studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh earning a 2:1 BA Honours Degree in English Literature. Cook then obtained a MA. He studied for a PHD on Charles Dickens and Victorian serial novels, supervised by John Sutherland, but gave it up in 1970.

After a period working as a schoolteacher in secondary schools, in 1971 Cook became a tutor–organizer of the Workers' Educational Association for Lothian, and a local councillor in Edinburgh. He gave both up when elected a member of parliament on his 28th birthday, in February 1974.

Shortly after he became Foreign Secretary, Cook ended his marriage with Margaret, revealing that he had an extra-marital affair with one of his staff, Gaynor Regan. He announced his intentions to leave his wife and marry another woman via a press statement made at Heathrow on 2 Aug 1997. Cook was forced in to a decision over his private life after a telephone conversation with Alastair Campbell as he was about to go on holiday with his first wife. Campbell explained that the press was about to break the story of his affair with Regan.