Anthony Smith (producer)
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Anthony David Smith,
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(14 March 1938 – 28 November 2021) was a British broadcaster, author and academic, who was president of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1988 to 2005.


Life and career

Smith was born on 14 March 1938 and attended
Harrow County School for Boys Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency ...
(now
Harrow High School Harrow High School is a co-educational academy in the London Borough of Harrow and a specialist Sports College. It was previously called Gayton High School and Harrow County School for Boys. The school has a sixth form for post-16 studies part ...
), from 1949 to 1956. He read English at Brasenose College, Oxford. His career in broadcasting started as a producer of current affairs programmes on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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in the 1960s. He became responsible for running the nightly news programme '' Twenty-Four Hours''. In the early 1970s, he became a research fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. He worked for the
Annan Committee The Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting was established in April 1974 to discuss the United Kingdom broadcasting industry, including new technologies and their funding, the role and funding of the BBC, Independent Broadcasting Authorit ...
on The Future of Broadcasting, and became engaged in the national debate which led to the foundation of the UK's
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
. He was subsequently appointed a board director of Channel 4 (1981–1985). He carried out research for the McGregor Commission on the Press, which presented its report in 1976. Between 1979 and 1988, he was director of the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
and was involved in the conception and establishment of the
Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Amer ...
on London's South Bank. In 1988 he was appointed President of
Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, Oxford University, and he retired from this position in 2005. He was made
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1987, and was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Arts) by Oxford Brookes University in 1997. He was for four years a Member of the Arts Council of Great Britain and had a long association with the Writers & Scholars Educational Trust, (which produces '' Index on Censorship''), acting for several years as its chairman. He was for 10 years a member of the Cambodia Trust for the rehabilitation of landmine victims, and also was for 10 years chairman of the Jan Hus Educational Foundation which was active in helping intellectuals and academics in Czechia and Slovakia in the years before and after the
Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...
of 1989. Smith was a patron of the London Film School, trustee of the Prince of Wales's School of Traditional Arts, and a board member of the
British Institute of Florence The British Institute of Florence is a cultural institute founded in 1917 in Florence, Italy, with the aim of promoting Anglo-Italian cultural relations, teaching English and Italian languages, and running a library of English books to illustrate B ...
, of the Choir of the Sixteen and of the Medical Research Foundation. He was also chair of the Hill Foundation, which provides scholarships for Russian students to study at Oxford University, and was also chair of the Oxford-Russia Fund, which provides scholarships for students attending universities within Russia, provides English-language books to Russian universities and also sponsors public discussion of topics affecting higher education in Russia. Smith died from renal failure at his home at Albany, in Piccadilly, London, on 28 November 2021, at the age of 83.


Writing

Smith wrote on broadcasting and the Press, and on the modern information industries in general. His books include: * (ed.) ''British Broadcasting'' (David & Charles, 1974), * (ed.) ''The British Press Since the War'' (David & Charles, 1974) * ''The Shadow in the Cave: a Study of the Relationship Between the Broadcaster, his Audience and the State'' (Quartet Books, 1976) * (ed.) ''Subsidies and the Press in Europe'' (PEP, 1977) * ''The Politics of Information: Problems of Policy in Modern Media'' (Macmillan, 1978) * ''The Newspaper: an International History'' (Thames and Hudson, 1979) * (ed.) ''Television and Political Life: Studies in Six European Countries'' (Macmillan, 1979) * ''Goodbye Gutenberg: the Newspaper Revolution of the 1980s'' (Oxford University Press, 1980) * ''The Geopolitics of Information: How Western Culture Dominates the World'' (Faber & Faber, 1980) * ''Licences and Liberty: the Future of Public Service Broadcasting'' (Acton Society, 1985) * (ed. with James Curran and Pauline Wingate) ''Impacts and Influences: Essays on Media Power in the Twentieth Century'' (Methuen, 1987) * ''Broadcasting and society in 1990s Britain'' (W.H. Smith, 1990) * ''The Age of Behemoths: the Globalization of Mass Media Firms'' (New York : Priority Press, 1991) * ''Books to Bytes: Knowledge and Information in the Postmodern Era'' (British Film Institute, 1993) * ''Disinterested Bystanders: Reconciling Media Freedom and Responsibility'' (John Stuart Mill Institute, 1996) * ''Software for the Self: Technology and Culture'' (Oxford University Press, 1996) * (ed. with Richard Paterson) ''Television : an International History'' (Oxford University Press, 1998)


References



interview British Entertainment History Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Anthony 1938 births 2021 deaths Place of birth missing Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford British writers People educated at Harrow High School Presidents of Magdalen College, Oxford