Director-General of the BBC
Encyclopedia
The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive
and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC.
The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC
and is now appointed by the BBC Trust
.
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC.
The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC
Board of Governors of the BBC
The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced by the BBC Trust on 1 January 2007.The governors...
and is now appointed by the BBC Trust
BBC Trust
The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and aims to act in the best interests of licence fee payers....
.
- Sir John ReithJohn Reith, 1st Baron ReithJohn Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, KT, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD, PC was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom...
(1927–1938) - Sir Frederick OgilvieFrederick OgilvieSir Frederick Wolff Ogilvie was Director-General of the BBC from 19 July 1938 to 26 January 1942, and was succeeded by joint Directors-General Cecil Graves and Robert W. Foot. He was knighted on 10 June 1942....
(1938–1942) - Sir Cecil GravesCecil GravesCaptain Sir Cecil George Graves KCMG MC was joint Director-General of the BBC with Robert W. Foot from 26 January 1942 to 6 September 1943.-Early life:The son of Charles L...
and Robert W. FootRobert W. FootRobert William Foot OBE was Director-General of the BBC, first jointly with Cecil Graves from 26 January 1942 to 6 September 1943 and then solely until he resigned on 31 March 1944. After being succeeded by William Haley, he became Chairman of the Mining Association....
(joint Directors-General, 1942–1943) - Robert W. FootRobert W. FootRobert William Foot OBE was Director-General of the BBC, first jointly with Cecil Graves from 26 January 1942 to 6 September 1943 and then solely until he resigned on 31 March 1944. After being succeeded by William Haley, he became Chairman of the Mining Association....
(1942–1944) - Sir William HaleyWilliam HaleySir William John Haley, KCMG was a British newspaper editor and broadcasting administrator.-Biography:Early in his career on the Manchester Evening News, Haley was found to be too shy to work as a reporter...
(1944–1952) - Sir Ian JacobIan JacobLieutenant-General Sir Edward Ian Claud Jacob GBE, CB, , known as Ian Jacob, was the Military Assistant Secretary to Winston Churchill's war cabinet and later a distinguished broadcasting executive, serving as the Director-General of the BBC from 1952 to 1960.-Early life:Jacob was born in 1899 in...
(1952–1959) - Sir Hugh GreeneHugh GreeneSir Hugh Carleton Greene KCMG, OBE was a British journalist and television executive. He was the Director-General of the BBC from 1960―1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955.-Early life and work:Hugh was born...
(1960–1969) - Sir Charles CurranCharles Curran (broadcaster)Sir Charles John Curran , was a British television executive.Charles Curran was born in Dublin. He served in the Indian army from 1942-45, but left to work in the BBC Talks department. He resigned following a dispute to edit the "Canadian Fishing News", but he returned in 1951 to join BBC Monitoring...
(1969–1977) - Sir Ian TrethowanIan TrethowanSir Ian Trethowan was a British journalist, radio and television broadcaster and administrator who eventually became Director-General of the BBC...
(1977–1982) - Alasdair MilneAlasdair MilneAlasdair David Gordon Milne is a former BBC producer who became Controller of BBC Scotland, the BBC's Director of Programmes and then Director-General of the BBC in July 1982. His resignation was forced by the BBC Governors in January 1987, following pressure from the Thatcher government...
(1982–1987) - Sir Michael ChecklandMichael ChecklandSir Michael Checkland was Director-General of the BBC from 1987 to 1992, having been appointed after the forced resignation of Alasdair Milne.- Early life :...
(1987–1992) - John BirtJohn Birt, Baron BirtJohn Birt, Baron Birt is a former Director-General of the BBC who was in the post from 1992 to 2000.After a successful career in commercial television, first at Granada and then at LWT, Birt was brought in as deputy director-general of the BBC in 1987 for his current affairs expertise...
(1992–2000) - Greg DykeGreg DykeGregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
(2000–2004) - Mark ThompsonMark ThompsonMark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...
(incumbent - since June 22, 2004)