Greg Dyke

Greg Dyke
Greg Dyke (2011)
13thDirector-General of the BBC
In office 2000–2004
Preceded by	John Birt
Succeeded by	Mark Byford(acting)
Chancellor of theUniversity of York
In office 2004–2015
Preceded by	Janet Baker
Succeeded by	Malcolm Grant
Chairman ofBrentford Football Club
In office 2006–2013
Chairman of theBritish Film Institute
In office 2008–2016
Preceded by	Anthony Minghella
Succeeded by	Josh Berger
Chairman of theFootball Association
In office 2013–2016
Preceded by	David Bernstein
Succeeded by	Greg Clarke
Vice President for Television ofBAFTA
Incumbent
Assumed office 2016
Preceded by	Sophie Turner Laing
Chairman of theLondon Film School
Incumbent
Assumed office 2018
Preceded by	Mike Leigh
Personal details
Born	Gregory Dyke (1947-05-20)20 May 1947 Hayes,Middlesex,England
Spouse	Susan Howes
Children	4
Alma mater	University of York
Occupation	Journalist,broadcaster,Executive director

Gregory Dyke(born 20 May 1947) is a Britishmediaexecutive, football administrator, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK inprintand thenbroadcast journalism.He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings ofTV-am.In the 1990s, he held chief executive positions atLWT Group,Pearson Television,andChannel 5.

Dyke wasdirector-general of the BBCfrom January 2000 to January 2004; he resigned following heavy criticism of the BBC's news reporting process in theHutton Inquiry.He was also a director ofManchester Unitedand chairman ofBrentfordfootball clubs, and from 2013 to 2016 was chairman ofthe Football Association.He waschancellorof theUniversity of Yorkfrom 2004 to 2015 and chairman of theBritish Film Institutebetween 2008 and 2016. He is currently the chairman ofchildren's televisioncompanyHiT Entertainment,and is a panellist onSky News'sThe Pledge.

Since 2016, Dyke has been vice president for television ofBAFTA.In 2018, he became chairman ofLondon Film School.

Early life and education

Greg Dyke at theUniversity of York,1975

Dyke was born in 1947, inHayes,Middlesex,the youngest of three sons in a "stable, lower middle class"family. Hisfatherwas aninsurancesalesman.The family lived at 17 Cerne Close until he was 9,then moved to Cedars Drive, Hillingdon.He was educated at Yeading Primary School and thenHayes Grammar School,which he left with one grade "E" atA-levelmathematics.After school he was briefly atraineemanager atMarks & Spencerbefore leaving to work as a traineereporterfor theHillingdon Mirror,becoming chief reporter in eight months.He left the Mirror after attempting to stage aunion-backed protest against poor pay conditions by the junior staff of the work on the paper. He then got a job at theSlough Evening Mail.Amongst his colleagues was future music journalistColin Irwin.

Dyke then went on to study for a degree at the University of York as a mature student, graduating in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in politics. During his time at York, Dyke was active in student politics, and was part of a collective that produced a psychedelic underground student magazine calledNouse.He also met and married his first wife, Christine Taylor, whilst at the university.His contemporaries and friends at York included future journalistsLinda GrantandPeter Hitchens,the latter then active in theInternational Socialists.Dyke was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 1999 and was chancellor from 2004 to 2015.

Career

Break into television: LWT and TV-AM

After university, Dyke followed his first wife toNewcastle.He had become disillusioned with newspaper journalism, and tried for a job as a junior reporter at BBC Radio Teesside. He was unsuccessful, apparently because the interviewers felt no-one would understand his accent. Dyke instead found work covering rural affairs for theNewcastle Journal.He moved back to London with Christine in 1974 to become campaign officer for the Wandsworth Community Relations Council. He hated the job and left to campaign to be elected GLC Councillor for Putney. Again he was unsuccessful.

Dyke was given assistance getting a job atLondon Weekend Television(LWT) by fellow ex-Newcastle journalistNicholas Evans,who was at the time working onWeekend World.Dyke got a junior position on LWT's local politics programme, in the current affairs department. His bosses there wereJohn BirtandPeter Jay.He attracted attention for trying to give the programmes he worked on a more populist edge. This led to him being given the chance to launch a new early evening current affairs topical news programme. This becameThe Six O'Clock Show,fronted byMichael Aspel,with co-hostsDanny BakerandJanet Street-Porter.The show is seen by many as the first example of British tabloid TV.

After the success ofThe Six O' Clock Show,Dyke was brought in byJonathan Aitkento become programme director at ailing stationTV-amin April 1983.The station was doing very badly in the ratings compared to the BBC's popularBreakfast Timemagazine style programme. He was instrumental in reviving the breakfast show's fortunes by introducing a new schedule based around popular features including bingo, celebrity gossip and horoscopes.

Dyke leftTV-am,in May 1984 afterBruce Gyngellwas brought in to enhance and improve the company to allow it to be financially viable.Ten days later, Michael Moor, the TV-am general manager, also left the station.In August 1984, Dyke became director of programmes atTVS.

In April 1987, Dyke moved from TVS to LWTagain to be director of programmes, replacing John Birt, having originally worked at LWT in 1978. At the same time, he helped LWT re-sectioning the company in a bid to cut costs and overhaul the working practices within the company ahead of a new franchise period, which it won. Dyke was responsible for cancelling ITV's coverage ofprofessional wrestlingin 1988.In 1992 he was appointed the chairman of the ITV Council, and LWT chief executive. In February 1993 he was appointed chairman of the GMTV board and tasked with overhauling the station format, which included "more popular journalism". His role was primarily to bring new and imaginative ideas to the station without taking on full day-to-day running.In 1994, he made a fortune whenGranadabought out LWT.

Pearson and Channel 5

Dyke became chairman and chief executive of Pearson Television in January 1995, and began expanding the company. His first acquisition wasGrundy Televisionwhich helped build Pearson into the biggest non-US independent production company in the world.

At the end of October 1995 a consortium guided by Dyke was awarded the licence forChannel 5,and he became the first chairman of the new channel.He was appointed chairman of Channel 5 on 21 February 1997. Also in 1997 he was asked to review the Patients' Charter of the National Health Service.

At the BBC

In 2000, Dyke took over fromJohn Birtasdirector-general of the BBC.He was appointed despite Conservative protests that he had donated £50,000 to the Labour Party and was a 'crony'.At the beginning of his tenure, he famously promised to "cut the crap" at the corporation. The "crap" he referred to was the complex internal market Birt had introduced at the BBC which, it was argued, turned employees away from making programmes and into managers. Dyke reversed this trend – he reduced administration costs from 24% of total income to 15%. Unusually for a recent director-general, he had a good rapport with his employees and was popular with the majority of BBC staff, his management style being seen as more open and risk-taking than Birt's.

Jonathan Gifford, who worked for BBC Magazines in BBC Worldwide during the management of Birt and Dyke, observed "Dyke came across well. He was direct, sensible and approachable. His vision for the BBC was inspirational."Martin Montague, a producer on digital radio station BBC7 said "I know that people in local radio think he walks on water because of all that he's put into that."

Apart from restoring staff morale, Dyke laid claim to two major achievements during his office. In 2002, he introduced theFreeviewterrestrial digital transmission platform with six additional BBC channels, and persuaded Sky TV to join the consortium. Previously this was anITV subscription servicethat had closed with major losses, but by mid-2007 it could be seen by more than half the population.After leaving the BBC, he said that he always realised that the introduction of Freeview helped to prevent a subscription funding model for the BBC gain traction, because it is impossible for broadcasters to switch off the signal to individual Freeview boxes.

Dyke controversially described the corporation in early 2001 as "hideously white",based on statistics that showed the organisation's management structure was 98% white. Dyke said that "The figures we have at the moment suggest that quite a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds that we do attract to the BBC leave. Maybe they don't feel at home, maybe they don't feel welcome." Dyke set a target that by 2003, 10% of the BBC's UK workforce and 4% of management would be from ethnic minority backgrounds. In September 2004, Dyke received an award for his remarks from Glasgow-based organisation Empower Scotland, which fights against workplace racism.

Dyke attracted criticism when he "forgot" to sell an equity stake in Granada Television, which presented a conflict of interest in his new position. He also caused controversy when he lost the rights to Premier League football to ITV, then accused the league of fixing the auction. Others were worried that the openness and high risk strategies of his management style could backfire on the corporation. An ITV executive was quoted as saying, "By being too radical and playing fast and loose with the public service remit, the BBC is inviting external regulation – and it deserves it."

In 2009, Dyke said the BBC was part of a "Westminster conspiracy" preventing the "radical changes" needed to UK democracy and that the separation between the "political class", including the BBC, and the public had never been greater. He said he had tried to raise the problem during his time in charge of the BBC but discussion had been blocked by a combination of the "politicos on the board of governors" of the BBC, the Labour cabinet and the political journalists at the BBC. He believed that these groups resist change as it is not in their interests.

Hutton Report and resignation from BBC

Main article:Hutton Enquiry

Dyke resigned from the BBC on 29 January 2004 along withGavyn DaviesandAndrew Gilligan,after the publication of theHutton Reportinto the circumstances surrounding the death ofDavid Kelly.Huttondescribed Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint.

In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:

I accept that the BBC made errors of judgement and I've sadly come to the conclusion that it will be hard to draw a line under this whole affair while I am still here. We need closure. We need closure to protect the future of the BBC, not for you or me but for the benefit of everyone out there. It might sound pompous but I believe the BBC really matters.

It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to theBBC's Board of Governorswhile hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the governors.

Some BBC staff felt that too much blame had been placed on their organisation in the wake of theDavid Kellyaffair in the Hutton Report, and that the government was interfering in the BBC.Tim Gospill, spokesman for theNational Union of Journalistssaid "Being independent doesn't just mean not having the government telling you what to do. It means you can criticise the government as well. I'm not at all sure the government understands that."Groups of staff staged walk outs fromBroadcasting Houseand other BBC offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff and Derry, in protest at Dyke's resignation.In addition, on 31 January 2004, BBC staff paid for a full-page advert inThe Daily Telegraphto express their "dismay" over Dyke's departure.Thefundraisershoped to raise £10,000, a lot less than the market rate for a full page advert in abroadsheetnewspaper. Reportedly they raised less than this amount, but were offered a deal by theTelegraph's advertising department which allowed the advert to be printed. It was signed by around 4,000 BBC employees; 10,000 (around a third of total BBC staff at the time) submitted their names for publication, but there was not sufficient space to include them all.

The statement in the advertisement read:

Greg Dyke stood for brave, independent and rigorous BBC journalism that was fearless in its search for the truth. We are resolute that the BBC should not step back from its determination to investigate the facts in pursuit of the truth.

Through his passion and integrity Greg inspired us to make programmes of the highest quality and creativity.

We are dismayed by Greg's departure, but we are determined to maintain his achievements and his vision for an independent organisation that serves the public above all else.

Speaking onGMTVon 30 January, Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also said Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case.

On 11 January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post-Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had said he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated".

After the Hutton Inquiry

On 28 November 2003, Dyke was formally appointed by theUniversity of Yorkas its new chancellor, replacingDame Janet Baker,who had served in the post since November 1991.There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorary and ceremonial head of the university, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television. On 6 February 2004, Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract withHarperCollins.The book,Inside Story,subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of theDr. David Kellyaffair andHutton Inquiry.In July 2004, Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from theUniversity of Sunderland,Middlesex Universityand in 2006 from TheUniversity of Bedfordshire.He was appointed chair of theBritish Film Instituteon 15 February 2008, succeedingAnthony Minghella.On 10 March 2010, it was reported that he had been approached byAlexander Lebedevand his sonEvgeny Lebedevto editThe IndependentandThe Independent on Sundaynewspapers.

In the wake of theNews of the Worldhacking affair,Dyke frequently appeared in the media to comment on events. In April 2011, he said "I don't think theNews of the Worldis a great contribution to British journalism. [...] They had obviously being [sic] playing fast and loose for a long time and are now getting their just deserts. "

Football administration

Performance ofBrentford F.C.over time.
Under Dyke's chairmanship Brentford F.C. experienced their worst performance since the 1970s.

Dyke has been a director of bothManchester UnitedandBrentfordfootball clubs, and was chairman of theFAfrom 2013 to 2016. He has said that he supported both clubs since he was a child, although his older brothers supported Tottenham.He became a fan of Brentford when his brother played for the club as a junior. ManagerBill Dodgin Sr.tried to sign his brother, but their father would not agree to him committing to what he saw as a badly paid and insecure career.

From 1997 to 1999, Dyke served as a non-executive director of Manchester United, and was the sole board member to oppose a takeover bid fromBSkyB,which was subsequently rejected by theMonopolies and Mergers Commission.When he became director-general of the BBC he admitted a "potential conflict of interest" between his new post and his non-executive directorship at Manchester United plc.He resigned his position to avoid controversy. In a speech at theManchester Evening NewsBusiness of the Year Awards, he said "it was seen as a conflict of interest to both buy and sell football rights. My kids have never forgiven me for joining the BBC because of that."

Dyke was the non-executive chairman of Brentford from 20 January 2006 until July 2013.He was appointed as part of the club takeover byBees United,theBrentford Supporters Trust.

At Brentford, Dyke's focus was on budget constraints for the small club and the necessity to generate money from televised matches and other means.Under Dyke the club's performance was initially unsteady, with a few highlights but the club experiencing its worst run since the 1970s. On 28 January 2006, they beatPremier LeaguestrugglersSunderland2–1 in the fourth round of theFA Cup,but lost 3–1 to another Premier League clubCharlton Athletic(of which former BBC chairmanMichael Gradewas non-executive director) in the fifth round.

The club finished third in the league that year and lost toSwansea Cityin the play-off semi-final. These initial slight successes preceded a spell of misfortune which saw Brentford lose 16 matches in a row and be relegated toFootball League Twoin 2007. Turnover of managers was fast, with Allen,Leroy Rosenior,Scott Fitzgerald,Alan Reeves,Barry QuinandTerry Butcherin the space of two years, before Butcher's assistantAndy Scottgot the team back on track, winning theLeague Two titleon 25 April 2009.Scott could not continue the success and after a series of poor results he was sacked in February 2011. Dyke remained upbeat:

"We are slightly disappointed with this season, as we increased the playing budget. The highlight was getting to Wembley but we froze a little in the final. But we have a good team, no matter who the manager is. We are spending enough money and we should be getting to the play-offs."

Dyke announced plans in 2010 for the club to move to a new ground, selling off the Griffin Park ground for residential housing to raise money. Dyke said: "Our aim is to move into a new stadium in Lionel Road and to move there as a club free of debt."

Dyke replacedDavid Bernsteinas chairman ofThe Football Associationin July 2013 after relinquishing his role as Brentford chairman and receiving approval from the FA council.In September, Dyke warned of an "alarming" lack of homegrown talent in English football, with fewer and fewer homegrown players in the top flight, and setEnglandthe target of at least reaching the semi-finals ofUEFA Euro 2020and then winning the2022 FIFA World Cup.

AfterSepp Blatter's sudden departure fromFIFAon 2 June 2015, when Blatter said he was resigning for honorable reasons and to allow FIFA to move on, Dyke said, "I don't believe a word of this. If he believes that, why not step down last week when we asked him to? He was cock-a-hoop when he won the election and terribly arrogant. Clearly there is a smoking gun. This is nothing to do with Mr Blatter being honorable; he hasn't been honorable for years".

Dyke left the FA in 2016, deciding not to stand for re-election, as he struggled to reform the organisation. He was succeeded as chairman byGreg Clarke.

Comments onNews of the Worldphone hacking scandal

Dyke appeared onBBC Two'sNewsnightprogramme on 8 July 2011 alongside comedianSteve Coogan,where he confronted formerNews of the Worlddeputy features editorPaul McMullenover his attitude to the events of the phone hacking scandal. Dyke told McMullen "You're [the tabloids] nothing to do with a free press, or a decent democracy". Distancing himself from McMullen he said "I've spent most of my life being a journalist, and I'm nothing to do with him, and neither are most other journalists."He continued "You could see there are occasionally, very occasionally, public interest cases but most of the time [it wouldn't make it less morally reprehensible]. These guys [tabloid journalists] just tapped anyone they could think of". He was also of the opinion that stronger independent regulation of the press was needed, saying that broadcast media had always been more strictly regulated.

On 11 July 2011, Dyke wrote in theFinancial Timesthat "from the moment it was revealed that theNews of the Worldhad hacked into Milly Dowler's phone, Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the 60.9% of British Sky Broadcasting that News Corp does not already own was all but over ".He said, "for those of us who have been warning about the tactics used by the Murdoch operation for many years – Mr Murdoch once described me as 'an enemy' – the events of the past week have been sweet."

Political views

In his early years, Dyke was an active supporter of theLabour Party.In 1977, he attempted to win a seat on theGreater London Council(GLC) for Labour atPutney.Until 1999, he was considered "very much part ofTony Blair's New England ", attending parties to celebrateLabour's 1997 election victory.He donated £55,000 to the party, which prompted controversy over his subsequent appointment as BBC director-general during the Blair government.He was also asked to write a report on the future of theNHS.

On 2 May 2005, prior to thegeneral election,Dyke went public at aLiberal Democratspress conference and said that "democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term".

On 20 April 2009, it was announced that Dyke was to lead a review of the UK's creative sector for theConservative Party.

Personal life

Dyke has been married twice. He met his first wife Christine Taylor at theUniversity of York;they were married for most of the 1970s. He lives inHampshire,nearStockbridge,with his second wife, Susan Howes, a formersociologyteacher andprobation officer.Susan is now a trustee of Safe Ground, a charity which works with young offenders.They have four children. The Dykes also own a house on the west coast ofCounty Cork,Ireland.

Honours

Scholastic

University degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree
England	1974	University of York	Bachelor of Arts(BA) inPolitics

Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

Location	Date	School	Position
England	2004 – 2015	University of York	Chancellor
England	April 2018 – Present	London Film School	Chairman

Honorary degrees

Honorary degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree	Gave Commencement Address
England	1999	University of York	Doctor of the University(D.Univ)
England	July 2004	University of Sunderland	Doctor of Arts(D.Arts)
England	2005	Staffordshire University	Doctor of the University(D.Univ)
England	2006	University of Bedfordshire	Doctor of Arts(D.Arts)
England	2007	Southampton Solent University	Doctor of Arts(D.Arts)
England	2013	University of Westminster	Doctorate
England	2015	London Metropolitan University	Doctor of Philosophy(PhD)

Memberships and fellowships

Location	Date	Organisation	Position
United Kingdom	1998–present	Royal Television Society	Fellow
United Kingdom	2016–present	British Film Institute	Fellow

External links

• Greg DykeatIMDb
• BBC apologises as Dyke quitsfrom theBBC News
• Video of Installation of Greg Dyke as Chancellor of the University of York
• Video of York Student Television 2005 Greg Dyke Interview
• Greg Dyke debates Reality TelevisionBAFTAWebcast, January 2008
• Picture of Greg Dyke at Haye County Grammar School, 1958