The ‘Mussolini’ who transformed the B.B. C.

Press, 28 December 1987, Page 11

The ‘Mussolini’ who transformed the B.B. C.

John Reith, an out-of-work engineer, joined the British Broadcasting Company in 1922 as its first general manager. When he left in 1938 he had transformed the small company if inexperienced former servicemen into the finest broadcasting corporation in the world. The man they called "the Mussolini of the 8.8. C.” had become one of the most powerful men in Britain.

The Scottish actor Tom Fleming heads a distinguished cast in "Reith,” a two-part documentary about the public and private life of this founder and first director-general of the 8.8. C. screening tonight and tomorrow night at 8.30 on One. The writer, Roger Milner, has based the two portraits on Lord Reith’s extensive personal diaries of his 8.8. C. years. Peter

Barkworth is Stanley Baldwin and Robert Lang plays Winston Churchill.

John Reith was the son of a minister of the Church of Scotland and served in the forces during World War I. Both these facts influenced his later life. A giant of a man in both the physical (he was 198 cm tall) and the literal sense, he was typical of other men of his genertion who by their will, determination and vision advanced the cause of human achievement. He told his wife Muriel soon after taking office at the 8.8. C., “This is the most powerful weapon in the land and it’s in my hands.”

He masterminded the development of radio and hired much-needed technical experts, thus swiftly establishing the 8.8. C. as the voice of the national under its call sign “London Calling ...”

A true “son of the manse,” Reith believed the 8.8. C. must always set a moral example and his standards were often harsh and uncompromising. He sacked his chief engineer, Peter Eckersley, for becoming involved in divorce proceedings. “We cannot speak or act with authority if we transgress the laws,” he told him. The

newspapers labelled his control “the nearest thing in this country to government by the Nazis.” Yet no-one could deny his great achievement. He bequeathed to the British nation a form of public service broadcasting that

was the envy of the world. “I want to banish ignorance and misery and enrich the human race — not deprive it and propagandise it... broadcasting must play its rightful part in human destiny,” he said.

Tonight’s opening instalment traces Reith’s early years at the 8.8. C. as he masterminds the development of radio and hires technical experts like Peter Eckersley who ran a rival private radio station.