Bernard Charles Sendall (30 April 1913 - 25 May 1996) was a

Civil Servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and an executive member of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 ( 2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 55) to supervise the creation of " Independent Television" (ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ...

(ITA). However, he is probably best known as the author of the first two books in the six-volume ''Independent Television in Britain'' series, widely regarded as the definitive history of the first 37 years of the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

service.

Early life

Sendall grew up in the town of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

where he attended the Royal Grammar School. He studied Modern History at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, graduating with a first class degree at the age of 20. After leaving Oxford, he studied as a postgraduate at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Civil Service

Sendall joined the British Civil Service in 1935 and from 1941 to 1945 was Private Secretary to

Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...

, the

Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given t ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, the defunct Ministry of Information was re-established as the

Central Office of Information The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its chief executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a ...

. Sendall helped with the transition and became the Central Office's first Controller between 1946 and 1949. He then went on to act as Controller of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...

until 1951 a job for which he was honoured with the

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1952.

Television

In 1955, Sendall joined the

, initially as Secretary but later the deputy to the

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

, Sir Robert Fraser. (Fraser, like Sendall, was one of several senior figures in Independent Television who had previously worked in the information services.) He remained in the post throughout the Authority's metamorphosis into the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

in 1972 and eventually retired in 1977. On retirement, he was awarded the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

gold medal for his durable contribution to television. Sendall wrote and published the first two volumes of ''Independent Television in Britain'', the official history of ITV in 1982 and 1983 respectively. The series was subsequently continued by other writers.

References

* Sendall, Bernard ''Independent Television in Britain: Volume 1 - Origin and Foundation 1946-62'' London: The Macmillan Press Ltd 1982 * Sendall, Bernard ''Independent Television in Britain: Volume 2 - Expansion and Change 1958-68'' London: The Macmillan Press Ltd 1983 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sendall, Bernard 1913 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford ITV people British writers Harvard University alumni People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester