November 28, 2025

#109 Reith to Davie: 17 BBC Directors General - with Dr Tom Mills

45 minutes

In October 1923, first BBC General Manager John Reith wrote to both 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, inviting the Prime Minister and the King to broadcast on the near year-old BBC. Both refused.

In November 2025, 17th BBC Director General Tim Davie resigned because... well we're still trying to find out exactly why. Again, politics is at play - though it's difficult to know if that's at the White House, the House of Commons or Broadcasting House.

Dr Tom Mills, sociologist at Aston University and author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service, joins us to whizz through 17 Directors General, their own politics and their battles with politics.

Meet:

John Reith, Frederick Ogilvie, Cecil Graves, Robert Foot, William Haley, Ian Jacob, Hugh Greene, Charles Curran, Ian Trethowan, Alasdair Milne, Michael Checkland, John Birt, Greg Dyke, Mark Thompson, George Entwistle, Tony Hall and Tim Davie.

(Add some 'sirs' and 'lords' in there - I've only de-titled them here as we're often talking about them while they were DG, and it's confusing who was appointed what and when. No disrespect intended)

All men, you may notice. There are a few women in this tale too - though not many, and usually by such names as Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse.

It's a complex tale - I hope we make it less so for you.

Oh and we have news of your festive audio treat - coming soon (to Radio 4!)

SHOWNOTES:

Dr Tom Mills' book is The BBC: Myth of a Public Service

Tom has co-written this article on a potential future for the BBC: https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/our-mutual-friend-the-bbc-in-the-digital-age

Paul's Substack article on the 17 Directors General: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/who-let-the-dgs-out-the-17-bbc-directors

Paul's Substack on last episode's Mass Telepathy broadcast re-enactment: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/p/the-bbcs-mass-telepathy-broadcast

Apply to be BBC Director General! The job ad: https://careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Director-General/34415-en_GB/

Details of your audio festive treat - my new Radio 4 drama, about the first radio drama: https://www.facebook.com/paul.kerensa/posts/pfbid0MKWEGmjSgXaBGJqMS6FPpbga8XcRaDdqMkAqb6GT6ZNYcW65yfQKKnbrF6B7J4jal

The BBC listings page for The Truth about Phyllis Twigg - 2:15pm, Christmas Eve 2025, Radio 4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ntmx

Original music is by Will Farmer.

Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - because like the 1925 panel, we can't read your mind: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey

Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour.

This podcast is not made by today's BBC. It's just about the old BBC.

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Next time: Episode 110: The first BBC Armistice broadcast.

More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio

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By Paul Kerensa

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