Greg Dyke
Born	May 20, 1947 (age 59)
Occupation	Journalist and broadcaster
Title	Chairman of Brentford Football Club
Website	BBC Profile

Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a journalist and broadcaster. He was Director-General of the BBC from January 2000 until 29 January 2004 when he resigned following heavy criticism of the BBC's news reporting process in the Hutton Inquiry. Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC who resigned over the Dr David Kelly affair/ Hutton Inquiry. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... Brentford Football Club are an English football club based in the London suburb of Brentford. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... 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... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the British government to investigate the death of a government weapons expert, Dr. David Kelly. ...

Early years

Dyke was educated at Hayes Grammar School. He worked briefly as a reporter for the Hillingdon Mirror before attending the University of York where he studied politics. He is now the University Chancellor at York. The University of York is a campus university in York, England. ... Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ... A Chancellor is the head of a university. ...

Dyke was an active supporter of the Labour Party and in 1977 he attempted to win a seat on the Greater London Council for Labour at Putney. In later years he was a financial donor to the party, before leaving Labour prior to the 2005 General Election, in which he supported the Liberal Democrats. The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... Arms of the Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. ... Putney is a district of south-west London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ...

Working in Television

After university Dyke moved into television. He worked first for London Weekend Television (LWT) before taking a job at TV-am in 1983. He was instrumental in reviving the breakfast show's fortunes by introducing Roland Rat, a hand puppet, to liven up the show. Following TV-am, Dyke became Director of Programmes for TVS, and later returned to LWT, making a fortune when Granada bought out the firm. Stints at Peason plc and five followed. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1992. ... Roland Rat (also Roland Rat Superstar) is a British television puppet character. ... TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1992. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The FremantleMedia logo from 2001-present. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

At the BBC

In 2000 he took over the helm of the BBC from John Birt. At the beginning of his tenure he famously promised to "cut the crap" at the Corporation. The "crap" he referred to was the complex internal market Birt had introduced at the BBC which, it is claimed, took employees away from making programmes and into managers. Dyke reversed this trend - he reduced administration costs from 24% of total income to 15%. Unusually for a recent D-G, he had a good rapport with his employees and was liked by the majority of BBC staff. John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944), served as the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 1992 to 2000, having previously been deputy director-general since 1987. ... 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...

BBC and Hutton Enquiry

Dyke resigned from the BBC on 29 January 2004 (as did Gavyn Davies & Andrew Gilligan), after the publication of the Hutton Report. Hutton described Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint. January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gavyn Davies Gavyn Davies (born 27 November 1950) was the chairman of the BBC from 2001 until 2004, a former Goldman Sachs banker and a former economic advisor to the British Government. ... Andrew Gilligan Andrew Paul Gilligan (born 22 November 1968, Teddington, Middlesex, England) is a journalist best known for his report, while defence and diplomatic correspondent for BBC Radio 4s The Today Programme, about the British Governments dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. ... Lord Hutton led the inquiry that concluded that Dr. David Kelly had taken his own life. ... Lord Hutton James Brian Edward Hutton, Baron Hutton, PC (born 29 June 1932), is a former British Law Lord. ...

In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:

I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I've sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.

It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to the BBC's Board of Governors while hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the Governors.

Some BBC staff felt that their organisation had been given too much blame in the David Kelly affair in the Hutton Report. Groups of staff stood outside Broadcasting House and other BBC centres across the country, protesting at the unfairness. Speaking on GMTV on 30 January Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also claimed that Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case. For other persons named David Kelly, see David Kelly (disambiguation). ... Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC in London, England. ... GMTV (Good Morning Television) is a national British breakfast television station owned by ITV plc (75%) and The Walt Disney Company (25%). It has held the license for the breakfast Channel 3 franchise since 1993, when it outbid the previous 6am-9. ... January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 11th January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had claimed he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated". [1]

After the Hutton Enquiry

On November 28, 2003 Greg Dyke was formally appointed by the University of York as its new Chancellor, replacing Dame Janet Baker, who had served in the post since November 1991. There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorific and ceremonial head of the University, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television. However, this post will not be filled until the construction of new, specially-designed facilities, intended to open in 2008. November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of York is a campus university in York, England. ... Janet Baker as Mary Stuart The British mezzo-soprano Janet Baker,CH (born August 21, 1933) is a well-known opera, concert, and lieder singer. ...

On February 6, 2004 Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract with HarperCollins. The book ("Inside Story"), subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of the Dr David Kelly affair and Hutton Inquiry. It has had a poor critical reception. At the Cheltenham Literary Festival in October 2004, Dyke accused the government of "trying to kill" Andrew Gilligan. February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. ... For other persons named David Kelly, see David Kelly (disambiguation). ... The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the British government to investigate the death of a government weapons expert, Dr. David Kelly. ... For the parliamentary constituency, see Cheltenham (UK Parliament constituency). ...

There are similarities between the enforced resignation of Alasdair Milne over Zircon a few months before the 1987 election and Dyke's resignation over the reporting of military intelligence issues the year before the 2005 election, though Dyke took responsibility for flaws in the control of live broadcasting whereas Milne was 'sacked' for yet to be broadcast investigative research. The departure of Greg Dyke also has echoes of the removal of Hugh Greene in 1969, who fell from the favour of Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (against a background of the Vietnam War), in part due to Greene's defence of robust reporting, as well as his support for provocative and controversial material. Alasdair David Gordon Milne (born 1930) was Director-General of the BBC from July 1982 until a forced resignation, under intense pressure from the Conservative government and a Board of BBC Governors dominated by Conservatives, in January 1987. ... Zircon was the codename for a British signals intelligence satellite, intended to be launched in 1988, before being cancelled. ... Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (1910-1987) was Director-General of the BBC from 1960 to 1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955. ... James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

In July 2004 Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Sunderland and Middlesex University. In his acceptance speech for the latter, he attacked the government over its stance on the Iraq war heavily, and maintained that the Andrew Gilligan story was essentially true, the story government dossier was sexed up and that the government staged a "witch hunt" to deflect from the real issues surrounding the Iraq war. St Peters Campus The University of Sunderland is located in the City of Sunderland in North East England. ... Middlesex University is a university in north London, England, located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex (from which it takes its name). ... Andrew Gilligan Andrew Paul Gilligan (born 22 November 1968, Teddington, Middlesex, England) is a journalist best known for his report, while defence and diplomatic correspondent for BBC Radio 4s The Today Programme, about the British Governments dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. ...

On May 2, 2005 the former Labour supporter Dyke went public at a Liberal Democrat press conference and said that "Democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term". May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ...

Following the appointment of Michael Grade as ITV Chairman in November 2006, it has been speculated that Grade may seek to appoint Dyke as his Chief Executive. Michael Ian Grade CBE (born March 8, 1943) is a British businessman and a distinguished figure in the field of broadcasting. ...

Brentford Football Club

Dyke is a fan of Brentford Football Club and was appointed as non-executive Chairman of the club on January 20, 2006, following the takeover by the Supporters Trust, Bees United. Brentford Football Club are an English football club based in the London suburb of Brentford. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

External links

• Greg Dyke at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC apologises as Dyke quits from the BBC News
• Greg Dyke on Vernon Corea
• Video of Installation of Greg Dyke as Chancellor of the University of York
• Video of York Student Television 2005 Greg Dyke Interview