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Director-General of the BBC

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Director-General of the BBC
Incumbent
Tim Davie
since 1 September 2020
Member ofBBC Board
Executive Committee
Reports toBBC Board
Chairman of the BBC
AppointerBBC Board
Formation1927
First holderSir 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 post-holder was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period 1927 to 2007) and then the BBC Trust (from 2007 to 2017). Since 2017 the director-general has been appointed by the BBC Board.

To date, 17 individuals have been appointed director-general, plus an additional two who were appointed in an acting capacity only. The current director-general is Tim Davie, who succeeded Tony Hall on 1 September 2020.[1]

List of directors-general

[edit]
No. Image Director-General Term of office Length of term Honour(s)
1 Sir John Reith 1 January 1927 30 June 1938 11 years Knighted 1 January 1927, at the start of his term as DG.[2] Peerage 21 October 1940, after stepping down as DG.[3] Appointed to the Order of the Thistle 18 February 1969.[4]
2 Sir Frederick Ogilvie 19 July 1938 26 January 1942 3½ years Knighted 10 June 1942, after stepping down as DG
3 Sir Cecil Graves and Robert Foot 26 January 1942 6 September 1943 19 months Knighted 1939, before becoming DG
4 Robert Foot 6 September 1943 31 March 1944 7 months
5 Sir William Haley 1944 1952 8 years Knighted 1946, during his term as DG
6 Sir Ian Jacob 1952 1959 7 years Knighted 1 January 1960, after stepping down as DG
7 Sir Hugh Greene 1960 1969 9 years Knighted 1964, during his term as DG
8 Sir Charles Curran 1969 1977 8 years Knighted 1 January 1974, during his term as DG
9 Sir Ian Trethowan 1977 1982 5 years Knighted 1980, during his term as DG
10 Alasdair Milne 1982 January 1987[a] 5 years
11 Sir Michael Checkland 1987 1992 5 years
12 Sir John Birt 1992 2000 8 years Knighted 27 October 1998[6] during his term as DG.
13 Greg Dyke 2000 29 January 2004 4 years
– Mark Byford[b] January 2004 June 2004 5 months
14 Mark Thompson 22 June 2004 17 September 2012 8 years Knighted 17 June 2023, after stepping down as DG.
15 George Entwistle 17 September 2012 10 November 2012 54 days
– Tim Davie[b] 11 November 2012 1 April 2013 141 days
16 Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead 2 April 2013 31 August 2020[7][8] 7 years Life peerage 19 March 2010, before appointment as DG.
17 Tim Davie 1 September 2020[1] Incumbent

Italics indicate that the individual was temporarily appointed as acting director-general.[9]

  1. ^ Ordered to resign by BBC Governors.[5]
  2. ^ a b Temporarily appointed as acting director-general

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Tim Davie: BBC executive named director general". 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  2. ^ "London Gazette, 1 January 1927".
  3. ^ "London Gazette, 29 October 1940".
  4. ^ "No. 44794". The London Gazette. 21 February 1969. p. 1995.
  5. ^ "Head of BBC Quits, Ending Stormy Tenure". The New York Times. AP. 30 January 1987. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Honours and Awards". London Gazette. 14 September 1999.
  7. ^ Plunkett, John (25 January 2013). "BBC director general Lord Hall to take charge on 2 April". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Lord Hall to step down as BBC's director general". BBC News. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Directors-General". bbc.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
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