Alasdair Milne

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Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the

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, where he was eventually promoted to

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

, and was described by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' 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 Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' in 1957. Later, after a period outside the BBC, he became controller of

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

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 The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced ...

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 The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

to Charles Gordon Shaw Milne, an

Aberdonian Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

surgeon, and his wife, Edith Reid (), the daughter of a headmaster of

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff ...

. He would spend the first six years living with his maternal grandparents in

Morningside, Edinburgh Morningside is a district and former village in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies alongside the main arterial Morningside Road, part of an ancient route from Edinburgh to the south west of Scotland. The original village served several ...

, until his father returned and they moved to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He would go onto to study at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

Career

For his

National service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

Milne was commissioned into the

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

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 Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, (7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a Welsh broadcaster and BBC executive. Early life Wheldon was born on 7 May 1916 in Prestatyn, Flintshire, Wales. He was educated at Friars School, Bangor, at the time an all-boys gra ...

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

Cliff Michelmore Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...

Ian Trethowan Sir James Ian Raley Trethowan (20 October 1922 – 12 December 1990) was a British journalist, radio and television broadcaster and administrator who eventually became Director-General of the BBC, Director-General of the BBC from 1 October 1977 ...

and

Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs ...

. Milne was the first television producer to become Director-General. His background was in current affairs and he was a founder producer of ''

'', and became the programme's editor in 1961. He also worked on programmes such as ''

That Was the Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pre ...

'', one of the most controversial programmes of the 1960s, and ''

The Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

''. He was instrumental in bringing the entire

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

canon to television, as well as one of the BBC's most acute comedies, ''

Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...

''. He would also set up

, 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 Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

, 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 Selina Mary Scott (born 13 May 1951) is an English television presenter who co-hosted the first dedicated breakfast television programme in the UK before crossing the Atlantic to join '' West 57th'', a prime-time current-affairs show broadcast f ...

. Milne was full of praise for the show, saying: "It was a terrific start. The first ''

'' 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 Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

in 1983, the coverage of the miners' strike of 1984–85, the ''Real Lives'' fracas, the ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' 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 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

'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 A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

thus: The licence fee survived the negotiations, and the BBC made an expensive and failed attempt to enter

satellite broadcasting A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...

Resignation

In September 1986,

Marmaduke Hussey Marmaduke James Hussey, Baron Hussey of North Bradley (29 August 1923 – 27 December 2006), known as Duke Hussey, was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1986 to 1996, serving two terms in that role. Education and career The so ...

was appointed chairman of the

.Maggie Brow
"How BBC director general Alasdair Milne was hustled out by Hussey"
''The Guardian'', 10 January 2013 Perceived as being

'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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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 Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, and cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originated in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, meani ...

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 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 ...

, 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 Seumas is a masculine given name in Scottish Gaelic and Scots, equivalent to the English ''James''.Bauer, Mìchael''Seumas'' in "Am Faclair Beag"/ref> The vocative case of the Scottish Gaelic ''Seumas'' is ''Sheumais'', which has given form to ...

and a daughter,

Kirsty Kirsty or Kirstie is a feminine given name and nickname. It is a Scottish diminutive of Christine in English-speaking countries and is also linked to Kirsten — the Scandinavian version of Christine. People * Kirstie Alley (1951–2022), Ame ...

, 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' 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 Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' 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."

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 Fellows of New College, Oxford Gordon Highlanders officers People educated at Winchester College 20th-century British businesspeople