Â鶹Éç

Like many large public service institutions in Britain, the Â鶹Éç at one time commissioned portraits of its most senior leader. In the Â鶹Éç hierarchy that person is the Director-General. Sadly, the series of DGs is incomplete. Three director generals were overlooked amid the preoccupations of World War 2 and its aftermath. They are Frederick Ogilvie, Cecil Graves and Robert Foot.

Post the departure of former Director-General Mark Thompson, various options have been considered as to how best portray this important figure in the digital age.

Lord Reith of Stonehaven (1889 - 1971) by Sir Gerald Kelly

General Manger 1922 - 1926, Director-General 1927 - 1938

John Reith was appointed General Manager of the British Broadcasting Company in 1922. He soon identified the potential of broadcasting for the public good, fashioned the Corporation under its Royal Charter, and set standards and values that remain a benchmark for broadcasters everywhere.

Sir William Haley (1901 - 1987) by Jacob Epstein

Director-General 1944 - 1952

Regarded as the best of the war-time Director Generals, Haley was editor-in-chief under Robert Foot. By the time Foot left and Haley took over, victory was in sight, and plans for peacetime radio services were in hand. Here Haley made his greatest contribution to the Â鶹Éç, introducing The Third Programme (which later became Radio 3)

Sir Ian Jacob (1899 - 1993) by Ruskin Spear

Director-General 1952 - 1959

Sir Ian Jacob was the first director general to embrace television and put money behind it. He resisted government pressure during the Suez crisis, led the Â鶹Éç’s response to the ITV challenge, and developed a long-term plan for regional television and a second television network. John Reith, who regarded television as a ‘social menace’, asked for his own portrait to be removed from the Council Chamber when the Jacob portrait was unveiled

Sir Hugh Carleton-Greene (1910 - 1987) by Ruskin Spear

Director-General 1960 - 1969

Hugh Greene joined as head of the Â鶹Éç’s German service at the outbreak of war, and rose to become one of the most admired director generals. He led the Â鶹Éç through the permissive Sixties, incurring the wrath of the establishment with That Was The Week That Was and of morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse with programmes such as Till Death Us Do Part. He presided over the launch of Â鶹Éç Two, colour television, and Â鶹Éç Local Radio.

Sir Charles Curran (1921 - 1980) by Ruskin Spear

Director-General 1969 - 1977

Charles Curran was Â鶹Éç Secretary and director of External Broadcasting before becoming Director-General. As a leader he was somewhat in the shadow of Huw Wheldon, the charismatic director of television, at a time when licence fee income was soaring as viewers switched to colour licences. He was nevertheless a very successful in running the Corporation and handing relations with the governors.

Sir Ian Trethowan (1922 - 1990) by John Ward

Director-General 1977 - 1982

Ian Trethowan, former ITN newsreader, presented political programmes for the Â鶹Éç before moving into management. As managing director of Radio, he reconfigured the networks as Radios 1 to 4. As director general his greatest asset was the range of contacts and friends he had cultivated as a political correspondent.

Such allies were particularly useful in episodes such as the Falklands conflict, when the Â鶹Éç’s attempts to provide balanced coverage were interpreted as disloyal. He retired in 1982, as the Thatcher government was beginning to squeeze the public sector and the unions.

Alasdair Milne (1930 - 2013) by June Mendoza

Director-General 1982 - 1987

Alasdair Milne defended the Â鶹Éç through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The Thatcher government was hostile towards the licence fee, and critical of Â鶹Éç output – notably its coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and international terrorism – while the divide between the governors and the executive grew wider than ever during the Real Lives row.

After a series of bruising battles in which Milne defended the editorial independence of the Â鶹Éç the governors insisted on a change of director general, and he was asked to step down.

Sir Michael Checkland (1936 - ) by Richard Foster

Director-General 1987 - 1992

Michael Checkland paved the way for the modern Â鶹Éç with the introduction of Producer Choice, the internal market system that encouraged budget holders to look outside for facilities and resources. As a result, layers of in-house support services were swept away, and hundreds of millions of pounds freed up to fund the Â鶹Éç’s response to growing competition.

Lord Birt of Liverpool (1944 - ) by Tai-Shan Schierenberg

Director-General 1992 - 2000

John Birt developed a strategic vision for the Â鶹Éç that looked far beyond the burgeoning independent television and radio markets. He carved out a role and mission for a public service provider in the age of the internet and the converging technologies of the telephone and broadcasting. Under his leadership the Â鶹Éç made a compelling case of the new charter in 1996, and for a licence fee settlement that would fund the leap to digital.

Greg Dyke (1947 - ) by John Keane

Director-General 2000-2004

Greg Dyke’s tenure as director general was cut short following the row with the government over a Today programme report questioning the government’s case for going to war in Iraq. In his time he launched the Freeview proposition, hastening the nation’s transition from analogue to digital, and he injected a fresh style of management that engaged staff as no director general had done before him.