Alan Yentob (born March 11, 1947) is a British television executive. He was born into a Jewish family in London of Iraqi descent, and was educated at The King's School, Ely. After initially joining the BBC as a trainee in the BBC World Service in 1968 he has spent his entire professional career with the Corporation. is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Kings School, a coeducational independent school in Ely was founded sometime before the Norman Conquest. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 33 languages to many parts of the world. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1973 he became a producer and director working on the high-profile documentary series Omnibus, for which in 1975 he made a famous film called Cracked Actor about the musician David Bowie. He went on later in 1975 to initiate another famous BBC documentary series, Arena, of which he was to remain the Editor until 1985, and the series itself still returns for semi-regular editions as of 2006. For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Omnibus is a television series of the BBC. Categories: | ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cracked Actor is a 53 minute long documentary filmed by the BBC in 1974 about David Bowie during his drug using days. ... David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 1947 January 8) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ... Arena is a British television documentary series, which has run in occasional seasons on the BBC TWO network since 1978. ... This article is about the year. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He left Arena to become the BBC's Head of Music and Arts, a position he occupied until 1987, when he was promoted to Controller of BBC Two, one of the youngest channel controllers in the BBC's history. Under Alan's five year stewardship BBC Two was re-vitalised and he introduced many innovations in programming such as The Late Show, Have I Got News For You, Absolutely Fabulous and Wallace and Gromit's The Wrong Trousers. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Best Bits of The Late Show: Champagne Edition (DVD) The Late Show was a popular Australian comedy show, which ran for two seasons on the ABC from 18 July 1992 to 30 October 1993. ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... Absolutely Fabulous is a British sitcom written by and starring Jennifer Saunders, and co-starring Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha and June Whitfield. ... Wallace and Gromit Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series of three British animated short films, a series of ten short-animated sequences, and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. ... The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. ...

Yentob was rewarded for his success in 1993 when he was promoted to Controller of BBC One, responsible for the output of the BBC's premier channel. His time here was seen as another success and he remained in the post for four years until 1996, when he was promoted again to become BBC Television's overall Director of Programmes. Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... BBC One is the primary television channel of the BBC, and the first in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

This appointment was only a brief one, however, before a re-organisation of the BBC's Executive Committee led to the creation of a new post, filled by Yentob, of Director of Drama, Entertainment and Children's. This placed Yentob in overall supervision of the BBC's output in these three genres across all media - radio, television and internet. He occupied this post until June 2004, when new BBC Director-General Mark Thompson re-organised the BBC's executive committee and promoted Yentob to the new post of BBC Creative Director, responsible for overseeing BBC creative output across television, radio and interactive services. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Director-General is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position is appointed by Board of Governors of the BBC. Sir John Reith (1927-1938) Sir Frederick Ogilvie (1938-1942) Sir Cecil Graves and Robert W. Foot (joint Director-Generals, 1942-1943) Robert W. Foot (1942... Mark Thompson has been the BBC Director-General since May 2004. ...

In the 2000s, he has also begun fronting BBC programmes as a presenter. These have included a series on the life of Leonardo da Vinci and a new regular arts series, Imagine. “Da Vinci” redirects here. ... Imagine is a wide ranging arts series first broadcast on BBC One in 2003. ...

One episode of Imagine has Alan explore the World Wide Web, Blogging, User created content, and even the use of Wikipedia, exploring people's motives and satisfaction that can be had from sharing information on such a large scale. His own blog, created during the making of the episode, was subsequently deleted and purged. Imagine is a wide ranging arts series first broadcast on BBC One in 2003. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ...

Unfortunately Yentob's reputation has become slightly tarnished of late, after it was revealed that his participation in some of the interviews for Imagine had been faked. Yentob has been warned not to do this again, but otherwise not disciplined, much to the disgruntlement of some who have seen more junior staff lose their jobs for lesser misdemeanours.[1]

Yentob's fifteen-year-old son Jacob Walker Yentob was wounded in a stabbing incident in September 2006. Jacob and a friend were stabbed after refusing to hand over valuables to a robber who knocked on the door at the family's four-storey Victorian home in Notting Hill. Both teenagers needed hospital attention after the attack. Yentob has one other child, his daughter Isabella, and is married to Philippa Walker, a television producer.[2]

In October 2007, Yentob was once again the centre of a controversy about faked interviews for "Imagine" when he substituted himself for another film-maker who had condiucted interviews with singer Scott Walker.

External Links

• BBC Imagine site