Director-General of the BBC
| Director-General of the BBC | |
|---|---|
| Member of | BBC Board Executive Committee |
| Reports to | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Appointer | BBC Board |
| Formation | 1927 |
| First holder | Sir John Reith |
| Salary | £450,000 |
The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC.
The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then the BBC Trust (from 2007 to 2017). Since 2017 the Director-General is appointed by the BBC Board.
To date nineteen individuals, all of whom have been men, have been appointed Director-General, plus an additional two who were appointed in an acting capacity only. The current Director-General is Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, who was appointed from the chief executiveship of the Royal Opera House, which position he had held from April 2001. He is the first peer to hold the position (Lords Reith and Birt having been raised to the peerage only after their tenures had ended). In June 2020 it was announced that Tim Davie would be taking over the position from Tony Hall from September 2020.[1]
List of incumbents
| Director General | Tenure | Time in post |
|---|---|---|
| Sir John Reith | 1927–1938 | 11 years |
| Sir Frederick Ogilvie | 1938–1942 | 4 years |
| Sir Cecil Graves and Robert W. Foot | 1942–1943 | 1 year |
| Robert W. Foot | 1943–1944 | 1 year |
| Sir William Haley | 1944–1952 | 8 years |
| Sir Ian Jacob | 1952–1959 | 7 years |
| Sir Hugh Greene | 1960–1969 | 9 years |
| Sir Charles Curran | 1969–1977 | 8 years |
| Sir Ian Trethowan | 1977–1982 | 5 years |
| Alasdair Milne | 1982–1987 | 5 years |
| Sir Michael Checkland | 1987–1992 | 5 years |
| Sir John Birt | 1992–2000 | 8 years |
| Greg Dyke | 2000–2004 | 4 years |
| Mark Byford* | January–June 2004 | 5 months |
| Mark Thompson | 2004–2012 | 8 years |
| George Entwistle | September–November 2012 | 54 days |
| Tim Davie* | 2012–2013 | 141 days |
| Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead | April 2013 – September 2020[2][3] | Incumbent: 7 years to date |
| Tim Davie | September 2020[4] – | N/A |
An asterisk indicates that the incumbent was temporarily appointed as Acting Director General.
References
- ^ "Tim Davie: BBC executive named director general". 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
- ^ Plunkett, John (25 January 2013). "BBC director general Lord Hall to take charge on 2 April". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
- ^ "Lord Hall to step down as BBC's director general". 20 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ "Tim Davie: BBC executive named director general". 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
