Season 1 Episodes
3 episodes1
I was meant to do something in the world
In this the first of three programmes filmed in Scotland and London Lord Reith, the BBC's first Director-General, recalls his early years in Glasgow; his memories of the First World War; and the events that led up to his appointment in 1922 as General Manager of the British Broadcasting Company.
2
I Found the BBC or the BBC Found Me
Lord Reith's reign as the BBC's first Director-General has become a legend in his lifetime.
Tonight he recalls the highlights of his fifteen years of office: years that included the General Strike, the Abdication of Edward VIII, and the coming of television.
3
I was not fully stretched
After he left the BBC, a move he describes as 'a frightful mistake', Lord Reith served in wartime ministries under Chamberlain and Churchill. Tonight he recalls his relations with Churchill and his bitter disappointment at being dropped from the Government. And in a revealing assessment of his past life, he talks about his unfulfilled ambitions, of what might have happened had he stayed at the BBC, and what he thinks of television today.