Huw Wheldon
Encyclopedia
Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon OBE
MC
(7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a BBC
broadcaster and executive.
Wheldon was born in Prestatyn
, Wales
and educated at Friars School, Bangor
. His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist, who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War. His grandfather, Tomos Jones Wheldon, had been the Moderator of the Calvinist Methodist Church
in Wales. His mother, Megan Edwards, was an accomplished pianist.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Wheldon enlisted in the Buffs. He was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers
in 1940, but subsequently volunteered for the airborne forces and joined the Royal Ulster Rifles
, with whom he flew into Normandy
. He was awarded the Military Cross
for an act of bravery on D-Day
+ 1.
, and then in 1951 became the Arts Council's administrator for the Festival of Britain, work for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1952.
In 1952 he joined the BBC as a publicity officer, but he was keen to make programmes, and he made his first appearance on television running a nationwide conker
competition, and thence became a familiar face on children's TV with his programme All Your Own
.
He also began to produce and present adult programmes, such as Men in Battle with Sir Brian Horrocks
, and Portraits of Power with Robert McKenzie. He was also responsible for Orson Welles
' Sketchbook (1955).
It was with the arts magazine programme Monitor that Wheldon truly made his mark on the cultural scene. He was the editor of the programme - in the sense in which a newspaper has an editor, a title still employed by Melvyn Bragg
on The South Bank Show
- and he set about molding a team of exceptional talents, including John Schlesinger
, Ken Russell
, Patrick Garland
, David Jones, Humphrey Burton
, John Berger
, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer.
Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts — the hundredth show was a film directed by Ken Russell and written by Wheldon, the celebrated Elgar. Monitor was ground-breaking because it featured films, sometimes just one full-length item, using actors to re-enact the subjects' lives. Prior to this, only photos or location shots had been used in programmes.
Wheldon's Monitor lasted until he had "interviewed everyone I am interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller
for the series' last season.
Wheldon now entered BBC management, becoming by turns Head of Documentaries and then Controller, BBC1. In 1968 he became Managing Director, BBC TV, a position he held until compulsory retirement in 1975. During this time he again gathered a team of the talents about him, promoting fellow programme makers such as David Attenborough
and Paul Fox to high executive office, and the period of his administration, which has come to be known as 'the Golden Age of British Television,' included programmes such as Steptoe and Son
, Till Death Us Do Part, Dad's Army
, Alistair Cooke's America
, Kenneth Clark's Civilisation
, Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man
(these three immensely successful in America, too), and plays by Dennis Potter
and David Mercer among many others.
After he retired from management Wheldon co-wrote, with J. H. Plumb, and presented Royal Heritage, a thirteen-part series on the history of the British monarchy as expressed through the Royal Collection
s. Produced by Michael Gill
, it achieved immense popularity ratings in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee
. Two other major documentaries followed, The Library of Congress and Destination D-Day.
in 1976. Following his retirement from the BBC he became Chairman of the Court of the Governors of the London School of Economics
, where he had read economics before the war. He disarmed potential sponsors of the school by eschewing flattery and opening negotiations with the bald statement that what he was after was their cash. He was also a formidable and active President of the Royal Television Society
(RTS). An RTS Memorial Lecture in his name by a distinguished broadcaster is televised annually. In 2011 Bettany Hughes
gave the lecture, and Brian Cox
gave the lecture in 2010. Other speakers have included David Attenborough
, Jeremy Isaacs
, and, in 2005, the writer Paul Abbott
. In addition to this, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) dispenses a Huw Wheldon Award for Specialist Factual Programme. There are also Wheldon bursaries and awards at the LSE and the University of Wales, Bangor.
Sir Huw's lasting influence, other than as a programme maker, which was considerable, probably lies in the ways in which he articulated the needs and requirements of public service broadcasting. "To make the popular good and the good popular", "the aim is not to avoid failure, but to attempt success", "multiplicity does not mean choice", were among his favourite sayings. He also coined the term "narrowcasting".
Wheldon died of cancer
in 1986. His ashes were spread anonymously in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where he had served as a Trustee, and which he had loved.
Sir Huw Wheldon was highly regarded in the United States, where he had many friends, one of whom, Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
, caused Norman Podhoretz
's obituary of his friend Wheldon, a version of which had first appeared in Podhoretz's syndicated column, to be entered into the Congressional Record
.
Wheldon was married to the novelist Jacqueline Wheldon
. They had three children.
Sir Huw's son, Wynn Wheldon (named after his grandfather), is his biographer.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
broadcaster and executive.
Wheldon was born in Prestatyn
Prestatyn
Prestatyn is a seaside resort, town and community in Denbighshire, North Wales. It is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. At the 2001 Census, Prestatyn had a population of 18,496.-Prehistory:...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and educated at Friars School, Bangor
Friars School, Bangor
Ysgol Friars is a comprehensive school in Bangor, Gwynedd, and one of the oldest schools in Wales.-1557 Establishment:The school was founded by Geoffrey Glyn, Doctor of Laws, who had been brought up in Anglesey and had followed a career in law in London....
. His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist, who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War. His grandfather, Tomos Jones Wheldon, had been the Moderator of the Calvinist Methodist Church
Presbyterian Church of Wales
The Presbyterian Church of Wales , also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church , is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. It was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival and the preaching of Hywel Harris Howell Harris in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811...
in Wales. His mother, Megan Edwards, was an accomplished pianist.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Wheldon enlisted in the Buffs. He was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers
Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and the imminent war with France...
in 1940, but subsequently volunteered for the airborne forces and joined the Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...
, with whom he flew into Normandy
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
. He was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for an act of bravery on D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
+ 1.
Broadcasting career
After the war Wheldon joined the Arts Council of WalesArts Council of Wales
The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.Established by Royal Charter in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council , when it merged with the three Welsh regional arts associations...
, and then in 1951 became the Arts Council's administrator for the Festival of Britain, work for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in 1952.
In 1952 he joined the BBC as a publicity officer, but he was keen to make programmes, and he made his first appearance on television running a nationwide conker
Conker
Conkers is a traditional English children's game played using the seeds of horse-chestnut trees – the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself...
competition, and thence became a familiar face on children's TV with his programme All Your Own
All Your Own
All Your Own was a BBC children's television program that aired on BBC from 1952 to 1961. The show provided the first television appearances for Jimmy Page, John Williams and the King Brothers.-Production:...
.
He also began to produce and present adult programmes, such as Men in Battle with Sir Brian Horrocks
Brian Horrocks
Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, KCB, KBE, DSO, MC was a British Army officer. He is chiefly remembered as the commander of XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden and other operations during the Second World War...
, and Portraits of Power with Robert McKenzie. He was also responsible for Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' Sketchbook (1955).
It was with the arts magazine programme Monitor that Wheldon truly made his mark on the cultural scene. He was the editor of the programme - in the sense in which a newspaper has an editor, a title still employed by Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
on The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
- and he set about molding a team of exceptional talents, including John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
, Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
, Patrick Garland
Patrick Garland
thumb|right|200pxPatrick Garland is a British actor, writer, and director.Garland started Poetry International in 1963 with Ted Hughes and Charles Osborne. He was a director and producer for the BBC's Music and Arts Department , and worked on its Monitor series...
, David Jones, Humphrey Burton
Humphrey Burton
Humphrey Burton, CBE is a British classical music presenter, broadcaster, director, producer, and biographer of musicians....
, John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer.
Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts — the hundredth show was a film directed by Ken Russell and written by Wheldon, the celebrated Elgar. Monitor was ground-breaking because it featured films, sometimes just one full-length item, using actors to re-enact the subjects' lives. Prior to this, only photos or location shots had been used in programmes.
Wheldon's Monitor lasted until he had "interviewed everyone I am interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
for the series' last season.
Wheldon now entered BBC management, becoming by turns Head of Documentaries and then Controller, BBC1. In 1968 he became Managing Director, BBC TV, a position he held until compulsory retirement in 1975. During this time he again gathered a team of the talents about him, promoting fellow programme makers such as David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
and Paul Fox to high executive office, and the period of his administration, which has come to be known as 'the Golden Age of British Television,' included programmes such as Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
, Till Death Us Do Part, Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
, Alistair Cooke's America
Alistair Cooke's America
America: A Personal History of the United States is a 13-part television series about the United States and its history, commissioned by the BBC and made in partnership with Time-Life Films. It was written and presented by Alistair Cooke, and first broadcast in both the United Kingdom and the...
, Kenneth Clark's Civilisation
Civilisation (TV programme)
Civilisation — in full Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark — is a television documentary series outlining the history of Western art, architecture and philosophy since the Dark Ages. The series was produced by the BBC and aired in 1969 on BBC2...
, Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man
The Ascent of Man
The Ascent of Man is a thirteen-part documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first transmitted in 1973, written and presented by Jacob Bronowski...
(these three immensely successful in America, too), and plays by Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
and David Mercer among many others.
After he retired from management Wheldon co-wrote, with J. H. Plumb, and presented Royal Heritage, a thirteen-part series on the history of the British monarchy as expressed through the Royal Collection
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
s. Produced by Michael Gill
Michael Gill
George Michael Gill was a television producer and television director responsible for creating 'ground-breaking' documentaries for the BBC....
, it achieved immense popularity ratings in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...
. Two other major documentaries followed, The Library of Congress and Destination D-Day.
Private life
Wheldon was knightedKnight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1976. Following his retirement from the BBC he became Chairman of the Court of the Governors of the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he had read economics before the war. He disarmed potential sponsors of the school by eschewing flattery and opening negotiations with the bald statement that what he was after was their cash. He was also a formidable and active President of the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
(RTS). An RTS Memorial Lecture in his name by a distinguished broadcaster is televised annually. In 2011 Bettany Hughes
Bettany Hughes
Bettany Hughes is an English academic historian, author and broadcaster.Hughes' father is the actor Peter Hughes and her brother is the cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes...
gave the lecture, and Brian Cox
Brian Cox (physicist)
Brian Edward Cox, OBE , is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at...
gave the lecture in 2010. Other speakers have included David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, Jeremy Isaacs
Jeremy Isaacs
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden .-Early life:...
, and, in 2005, the writer Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
. In addition to this, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) dispenses a Huw Wheldon Award for Specialist Factual Programme. There are also Wheldon bursaries and awards at the LSE and the University of Wales, Bangor.
Sir Huw's lasting influence, other than as a programme maker, which was considerable, probably lies in the ways in which he articulated the needs and requirements of public service broadcasting. "To make the popular good and the good popular", "the aim is not to avoid failure, but to attempt success", "multiplicity does not mean choice", were among his favourite sayings. He also coined the term "narrowcasting".
Wheldon died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1986. His ashes were spread anonymously in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where he had served as a Trustee, and which he had loved.
Sir Huw Wheldon was highly regarded in the United States, where he had many friends, one of whom, Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
, caused Norman Podhoretz
Norman Podhoretz
Norman B. Podhoretz is an American neoconservative pundit and writer for Commentary magazine.-Early life:The son of Julius and Helen Podhoretz, Jewish immigrants from the Central European region of Galicia, Podhoretz was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn...
's obituary of his friend Wheldon, a version of which had first appeared in Podhoretz's syndicated column, to be entered into the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
.
Wheldon was married to the novelist Jacqueline Wheldon
Jacqueline Wheldon
Jacqueline Mary Wheldon , was an English author.-Early life and education:She was born in Clonmel Road, Fulham, west London, the first child and only daughter of Hugh Clarke , a toolmaker, and Lillie Nunns the daughter of a railway guard, Harry Nunns, and his wife Elizabeth...
. They had three children.
Sir Huw's son, Wynn Wheldon (named after his grandfather), is his biographer.