Captain Sir Cecil George Graves (4 March 1892 – 12 January 1957) was joint Director-General of the BBC with

Robert Foot Robert William Foot (7 June 1889 – 2 April 1973) was Director-General of the BBC, first jointly with Cecil Graves from 26 January 1942 to 6 September 1943 and then solely until he resigned on 31 March 1944. Before joining the BBC, Foot was ...

from 26 January 1942 to 6 September 1943.

Early life

The son of Charles L. Graves and Alice Grey, the eldest sister of

Viscount Grey of Fallodon A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

,GRAVES, Captain Sir Cecil George
at

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

online at xreferplus.com (accessed 27 November 2007) Graves was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, (like his predecessor Reith) and then at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

Career

Graves was a scout commissioned into the Royal Scots from Sandhurst in 1911. He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France, from August 1914, and was one of the first to be taken as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

, on 26 August 1914, spending the rest of the Great War in a German prison camp. After the war, he served at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in the Intelligence Branch of the

Imperial General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board. Prior to 1964, the title was Chief of the Imperial G ...

from 1919 to 1925, when he left the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He joined the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

as an administrator in 1926, was Assistant Director of Programmes from 1929 to 1932, then Empire Service Director, 1932–1935, Controller of Programmes, 1935–1938, Deputy Director-General, 1938–1942, and in 1942 succeeded

Frederick Ogilvie Sir Frederick Wolff Ogilvie FRSE (7 February 1893 – 10 June 1949) was a British broadcasting executive and university administrator, who was Director-General of the BBC from 19 July 1938 to 26 January 1942, and was succeeded by joint Directors- ...

(jointly with Robert Foot) as Director-General. Graves left the corporation in 1943 due to ill health, leaving Foot to be sole Director-General. Graves was also a member of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

and the Broadcasting Council of Scotland (now known as Audience Council Scotland).

Family

In 1921, Graves married Irene Helen Bagnell, a daughter of H. W. J. Bagnell, of the Indian Civil Service, and they had two sons. The eldest, Michael, was an RAF

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

Squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

who took part in the battle of Malta in which he was awarded a DFC. He fought in the D Day invasion and took part in the first ever flight of operational jets. After the war he was a jet pilot for Rolls-Royce and then Westland of Yeovil. In 1949 Michael was killed aged 28 while test flying a

Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, Unit ...

Honours

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

*Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

, 1939 *Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Cecil 1892 births 1957 deaths People educated at Gresham's School Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Royal Scots officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Recipients of the Military Cross BBC executives English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Berkshire cricketers British World War I prisoners of war World War I prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century British businesspeople Graves family