Alastair Milne

Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by ''The Independent'' as "one of the most original and talented programme-makers to emerge during television's formative years".

In his early career, Milne was a BBC producer and was involved in founding the current affairs series ''Tonight'' in 1957. Later, after a period outside the BBC, he became controller of BBC Scotland and BBC Television's director of programmes. He served as Director-General of the BBC between July 1982 and January 1987, when he was forced to resign from his post by the BBC Governors following several difficult years for the BBC, which included sustained pressure from the Thatcher government about editorial decisions which had proved controversial.

Early life

Milne was born in British India to Charles Gordon Shaw Milne, an Aberdonian surgeon, and his wife, Edith Reid (), the daughter of a headmaster of George Heriot's School. He would spend the first six years living with his maternal grandparents in Morningside, Edinburgh, until his father returned and they moved to Kent. He would go onto to study at Winchester College and New College, Oxford.

Career

For his national service Milne was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders, before receiving a medical discharge due to a lung infection. He joined the BBC in September 1954 as a graduate trainee after his wife spotted a BBC advertisement. He was taken under the wing of Grace Wyndham Goldie who recruited, trained, guided and encouraged many well-known BBC broadcasters and current affairs executives. Milne was one of the so-called "Goldie Boys", a group of producers and presenters, which included Huw Wheldon, Robin Day, David Frost, Cliff Michelmore, Ian Trethowan and Richard Dimbleby.

Milne was the first television producer to become Director-General. His background was in current affairs and he was a founder producer of ''Tonight'', and became the programme's editor in 1961. He also worked on programmes such as ''That Was the Week That Was'', one of the most controversial programmes of the 1960s, and ''The Great War''. He was instrumental in bringing the entire Shakespeare canon to television, as well as one of the BBC's most acute comedies, ''Yes Minister''. He would also set up BBC Scotland, when as the appointed controller in January 1968, he decided to change the lettering on the front of the building from 'BBC' to 'BBC Scotland'. According to ''The Herald'':

"He campaigned for BBC Scotland to make programmes reflecting Scottish values and culture, believing in its obligation to support the Gaelic language"

Landmark broadcasting events during his time as Director-General included Live Aid, the massive music event precipitated by a BBC news report on famine in Africa. The BBC's new '' Breakfast Time'' programme went on air on 17 January 1983, presented by Frank Bough and former ITN newscaster Selina Scott. Milne was full of praise for the show, saying: "It was a terrific start. The first ''Tonight'' programme was not as good as this."

As Director-General, Milne was involved with a series of controversies with the British government. Contentious programme-making included the '' Nationwide'' general election special with Margaret Thatcher in 1983, the coverage of the miners' strike of 1984–85, the ''Panorama'' libel action, the reporting of the U.S. bombing of Libya and the controversy surrounding the programme '' ''Secret Society'''' which took place in light of MI5's vetting of BBC employees.

On top of this, Milne had to defend the existence of the BBC to the Peacock Committee, which was considering the future of the BBC. Milne defended the television licence thus:

The licence fee survived the negotiations, and the BBC made an expensive and failed attempt to enter satellite broadcasting.

Resignation

In September 1986, Marmaduke Hussey was appointed chairman of the BBC Governors.Maggie Brow
"How BBC director general Alasdair Milne was hustled out by Hussey"
''The Guardian'', 10 January 2013 Perceived as being Margaret Thatcher's "hatchet man", he was accused of having been appointed because of her perception that the corporation was biased towards the left. In an unprecedented step, Hussey convinced the Board of Governors that a change of direction was needed, and they forced Milne's resignation.

Milne wrote:

Milne, who later described the governors as a "bunch of amateurs", resigned in January 1987. ''The New York Times'' reported on 30 January 1987, "Mr. Milne, who became director general in 1982, resigned during a meeting of the board of governors and left without issuing a statement. The BBC said his deputy, Michael Checkland, had taken over temporarily."

Post-resignation comments about the BBC

Milne was strongly critical of later BBC Director-General John Birt whom he called "blue skies Birt". Milne described Birt's thesis on television's so-called 'bias against understanding' as "balls, actually", and said:

In October 2004, stories were published implying that he had suggested that alleged dumbing down of the BBC was partly the consequence of the corporation's growing number of female executives: Milne later clarified his position: In 2006, at a private gathering at the Royal Television Society, Milne, when asked about Marmaduke Hussey, who fired him, said: "What can I say about Hussey? Not a lot." In his own career he was proudest of programmes such as ''Tonight'', ''That Was the Week That Was'' and the historical series ''The Great War''. He had thought he would find something else to do fter resigning in 1987but it never happened. "So I decided to go and spend the summer fishing and the winter shooting in beloved Scotland and wrap up that end of my life," he said.

Personal life

In 1954 Milne married Ann Ruth Sheila Eva Kirsten Graucob in Oxford. Graucob, who was of Danish and Irish ancestry, died on 1 April 1992. The couple had two sons, Ruairidh and Seumas and a daughter, Kirsty, who died in July 2013.

Death

Milne died on 8 January 2013 at age 82 after suffering from a series of strokes. His obituary in ''The Guardian'' noted "...Yet his term as director general ended prematurely, in January 1987, when he resigned to avoid the ignominy of being sacked. The ostensible cause was a succession of public gaffes by the BBC in 1985–86, plus a costly out-of-court libel settlement over a 1984 edition of ''Panorama'', all of which Tory ministers, the ''Times'', the ''Daily Mail'' and others were able to exploit." The BBC noted "Milne's time as director general was marked by clashes with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government" adding "...he strongly defended the BBC's independence and it flourished creatively, with the launch of breakfast television, ''Newsnight'' and ''EastEnders'', and the Live Aid concert broadcast."

''The Independent'' remarked "Alasdair Milne is destined to be remembered for the brutal manner of his dismissal as Director-General of the BBC in 1987, during Margaret Thatcher's drive to purge the corporation of what she saw as its indiscipline, extravagance, irresponsibility and anti-Conservative bias." noting his contributions "...In 1962 Milne and onaldBaverstock were involved in another ground-breaking experiment. With Ned Sherrin they created ''That Was The Week That Was'', the BBC's first attempt at regular political satire. "

Of Milne's appointment at the BBC, ''Variety'' observed "From the moment Milne was appointed as the pubcaster's director general in 1981, he had to battle to defend its editorial independence. At the time, the UK was engaged in a war with Argentina, and government supporters felt the BBC should support the "home" team rather than report on the conflict from a neutral perspective."

See also

* Board of Governors of the BBC
* Politics of the United Kingdom
* Zircon affair

Footnotes

References

Publications

* ''DG: The Memoirs of a British Broadcaster'', 1988.

External links

*

Latter part of discussion recorded at London Frontline Club, May 2008, includes consideration of Margaret Thatcher's attitude towards the BBC

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Alasdair
1930 births
2013 deaths
Alumni of New College, Oxford
BBC executives
BBC television producers
British people of Scottish descent
Directors-general of the BBC
Fellows of New College, Oxford
Gordon Highlanders officers
People educated at Winchester College
20th-century British Army personnel
Military personnel of British India