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. Sir John was awarded the life peerage in 1999, and took his seat in March 2000. December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to 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... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... 1992 (MCMXCII in Roman) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the United Kingdom, Life Peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as hereditary peers). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 2000 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December This is a timeline for events in March, 2000. ...

Early career

Birt was born in Liverpool and educated at St Mary's College, Liverpool and St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he studied engineering and gained a third-class degree. Liverpool waterfront by night, as seen from the Wirral. ... St Marys College, Liverpool is an independent Roman Catholic day school for boys and girls aged 11-18. ... St Catherines College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...

Between 1966 and 1971 he was a Current Affairs Producer at Granada Television after which he worked at London Weekend Television (LWT), and having created Weekend World, he was the programmes founding editor. Subsequently, Birt was head of current affairs and then controller of Features and Current Affairs. By this time, Birt had formed a long-standing animousity with Michael Grade, then a colleague. In the mid-'seventies in a sabbatical away from LWT, he produced David Frost's interviews with Richard Nixon, returning to LWT as Director of Programmes from 1982; in particular during this period he was responsible for the revival in the career of Cilla Black, a life-long friend. Birt started working for the BBC in 1987 as deputy Director General [1]. Current ITV Granada logo A Granada TV logo from the black and white era. ... Now known as ITV London (Weekends) London Weekend Television logo, 1978-1996 London Weekend Television logo, 1996-2004 London Weekend Television Limited (LWT) is the ITV contractor for London, Friday 5:15pm to Monday, 5:59am. ... Michael Grade CBE (born March 8, 1943) is a British businessman and a distinctive figure in the field of broadcasting. ... Frost interviewing Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE (born April 17, 1939) is a British television presenter. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cilla Black, in a still from an interview done in 2000. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

At the BBC

Birt was a source of immediate controversy following his appointment as BBC Director General in 1992, when it was revealed he was being employed as a consultant, and therefore writing off numerous personal expenses against tax, including the secretarial services of his wife. While acceptable in the private sector most considered the role of Director General a Public Trust appointment and under political pressure Birt negotiated to become a BBC employee. In the process Birt had to give up his shares in LWT that formed part of his final salary settlement. In 1994 when LWT was brought out by Granada Television this meant that Birt lost out on several million pounds. 1992 (MCMXCII in Roman) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Current ITV Granada logo A Granada TV logo from the black and white era. ...

In 1974, along with then Weekend World presenter Peter Jay, Birt had contributed three articles to The Times newspaper on television journalism. In their view, current affairs programming tended to contain a "bias against understanding": instead, they advocated the promotion of "a mission to explain." Birt held the post of Director of News and Current Affairs for a time during his spell as deputy Director General under Michael Checkland, but his influence in this field remained pervasive subsequently. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Honourable Peter Jay (born 7 February 1937) is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... Sir Michael Checkland (born 1936) was Director-General of the BBC from 1987 to 1992, having been appointed after the forced resignation of Alasdair Milne. ...

In practical pursuit of this thesis broadcast journalists were required by Birt to prepare their arguments before any filming was undertaken, rather than leave this to the assembly of the programme or package in the cutting room. This was controversial, since findings were now determined a priori and thus arguably led to the reflection of a narrower viewpoint. In the view of journalist Kate Adie this went against the "obligation to report"[2] or in the view of former Panorama presenter Fred Emery to "a certain blandness" [3]. A priori is a Latin phrase meaning from the former or less literally before experience. In much of the modern Western tradition, the term a priori is considered to mean propositional knowledge that can be had without, or prior to, experience. ... Kate Adie (born September 19, 1945) is a British journalist. ...

Birt's complex internal market reforms of the BBC resulted in sections of the BBC were charging each other for internal services and even competing against each other when tendering contract submissions. Under the "producer choice" initiative producers were now obliged to use outside resources when cheaper to do so; in-house facilities were closed as a result because of the "creative accounting" methods used. Birt was little thought of by the organisations employees, and his reforms were partially dismantled by his successor Greg Dyke. Dennis Potter, in particular, described Birt as a "croak-voiced Dalek" shortly before his death, and the allusion stuck for the rest of Birt's time at the BBC. Greg Dyke Greg Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a journalist and broadcaster. ... Dennis Christopher George Potter (May 17, 1935 – June 7, 1994) was a controversial English dramatist who is best known for several widely acclaimed television dramas which mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. ... The Daleks (pronounced DAH-lecks or DAH-licks; IPA: ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

However, it has been convincingly argued that without those reforms and Birt's relatively Conservative-friendly persona [4], the BBC would not have secured its charter renewal in the 1990s, and Birt was responsible for a major modernisation of much BBC programming, not least the removal of Simon Bates, Dave Lee Travis and other veteran DJs from Radio 1, which was reformed as a much more youth-oriented station (though the channel's popularity declined), and the demise of the Paul Daniels Magic Show and similar vintage variety formats on BBC1. Birt also invested heavily in Digital Broadcast resources for the BBC but this was criticised at being at the expense of the BBC's core programming with BBC grandees such as John Tusa launching attacks, claiming that you have to love an organisation in order to reform it. The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, the last decade of the 20th Century. ... Simon Bates (born Birmingham, 17 December 1947) is best known for being a disc jockey in the UK and New Zealand. ... Born in Manchester in 1945, Dave Lee Travis, or DLT, is a UK radio presenter and disc jockey for the BBC. His nickname is The Hairy Cornflake. // Career at Radio 1 DLT began his radio career at Radio Caroline North. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Standing at just under seven feet tall, Paul Daniels (born 6 April 1938 in Southbank, Middlesbrough) is a television magician in the United Kingdom. ... BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formerly styled) is the oldest United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ...

In 1998, BBC programmes were prevented from mentioning the private life of the cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson, shortly after Mandelson had complained about Matthew Parris' inclusion of his name as a gay senior Minister. Mandelson and Birt had known each other when both had worked for London Weekend and there was press speculation that Birt had instigated the direction, although it had been issued by Anne Sloman. 1998 (MCMXCVIII in Roman) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Rt Hon. ... Matthew Parris (born August 7, 1949 in Johannesburg) is a politician and journalist in the United Kingdom. ... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ...

Post-BBC career

In 2001 [5] Tony Blair appointed Birt as his personal advisor, for what was termed "Blue Skies thinking" [6]; it is thought his long standing friendship with Peter Mandelson had a role in his appointment.[7] His role in government has been controversial, since as a special advisor, rather than a civil servant, he is not formally obliged to face questions from House of Commons Select committees. In October 2002 an uproar was created when it emerged that the government had specifically asked him not to appear in front of the transport select committee, at a time when he was in charge of long-term transport strategy. Earlier that year, a paper of Birt's had proposed a second network of motorways operated as tolls to counter the problems of traffic congestion.[8] In parallel, he has subsequently become a part-time consultant with McKinsey & Company, which some see as a conflict of interest with his government involvement. In December 2005 he quit his role as advisor to Tony Blair to join private equity firm Terra Firma, "for personal reasons". 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. ... The Rt Hon. ... British House of Commons Canadian House of Commons In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ... A Select Committee of the British Parliament is a committee made up of a small number of members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues. ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A high-speed toll booth on SR 417 near Orlando, Florida A toll gate on the Sayama bypass (Saitama prefectural road 397) in Japan A toll gate on the Dom Pedro I Highway near the city of Itatiba, Brazil A toll road, turnpike or tollpike is a road on which... McKinsey & Company is a privately owned management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management in large corporations and organizations. ...

Since February 2004, Birt has been a member of the Board of Directors of PayPal. It has been suggested that Board of Trustees be merged into this article or section. ... PayPal is an Internet business which allows the transfer of money between email users and merchants, avoiding traditional paper methods such as checks/cheques and money orders. ...

The Financial Times reported at the beginning of July 2005 that Birt's office roof at No10 Downing Street had fallen in. No one was injured. The Financial Times (FT) is an international business newspaper printed on distinctive salmon pink semi-broadsheet paper. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 10 Downing Street, commonly known as Number 10, is arguably the most famous street address in London. ...

Returning to his earlier career on August 26, 2005, Birt delivered his second MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Partly a review of his professional life as a broadcaster, he also criticised the "tabloidisation" of intellectual concerns. More importantly, he argued that Channel Four should receive financial help, in order to preserve "public service broadcasting", which was taken as advocacy of the BBC sharing its licence fee with the Channel. He also mentioned that his long standing feud with Michael Grade had been resolved, but the speech as a whole was not admired by many figures in the industry [9]. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Founded in 1976 and now in its 30th year the Festival is held annually over the August bank holiday weekend at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. ... Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... A television licence is an official licence required in some countries for all owners of a television receiver. ... Michael Grade CBE (born March 8, 1943) is a British businessman and a distinctive figure in the field of broadcasting. ...

Private Life

John Birt met his first wife, then Jane Lake, an American art student at Oxford in 1963 and married her in Washington, D.C. in 1965. In April 2005 it was announced that he intended to divorce his wife and marry Ms Eithne Wallis, formerly employed at the Home Office, when he is free to do so.[10] 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: the District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Official website: http://www. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ...

Bibliography

• John Birt (2002). The Harder Path, Time Warner Books. ISBN 0316860190.
• Georgina Born (2004). Uncertain Vision: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC, Secker & Warburg. ISBN 0436205629.

External links

• New Statesman interview with John Birt, June 1996
• Review of John Birt's The Harder Path by Peter Bazalgette in The Observer, October 27, 2002