Sir Peter Bazalgette
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Sir Peter Lytton Bazalgette (; born 22 May 1953) is a British television executive and producer, also active in the fields of the arts and the broader Creative Industries. Currently he is co-Chair of the Creative Industries Council, pro Chancellor and Chair of Council at the Royal College of Art, a non-executive board member at the Department of Education, Business Council chair of the Care Leavers Covenant, chair of the Baillie Gifford non fiction book prize and senior independent director on the board of Saga plc. He was elected President of the Royal Television Society and Deputy Chairman of the National Film School. He was knighted in the New Year Honours for 2012 for services to broadcasting. He has been a benefactor to the arts and Chairman of English National Opera. He was Chair of Arts Council England from 2012 until 2016 and Chairman of ITV from 2016 to 2022. He is also Chair of LoveCrafts, the online retailer. He was a non-executive board member of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and also served on the advisory board of BBH. He sat on the board of the market researcher, YouGov, from 2003 to 2013. In January 2017, his latest book ''The Empathy Instinct'' was published.


Personal life

Peter Bazalgette is the great-great-grandson of Victorian civil engineer
Sir Joseph Bazalgette ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
. A third cousin is Edward Bazalgette, who directed and produced the 2003 documentary ''The Sewer King'' which charted Sir Joseph Bazalgette's design and engineering of the London sewers. Peter Bazalgette presented a later television show for Five, called ''The Great Stink'', and chaired the Crossness Engines Trust raising £4.5 million to restore the Victorian pumping station built by his ancestor. For the first 12 years of his life Peter Bazalgette's parents did not have a television. He attended
Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...
, and gained a third class degree in Law from
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , establish ...
, while also becoming the president of the
Cambridge Union Society The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...
. He is married to intellectual property rights lawyer Hilary Newiss, with whom he has two children. The family lives in
Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...
.


Career

Bazalgette joined the
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
graduate news training scheme, and was subsequently picked by
Esther Rantzen Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes, and fou ...
as a researcher on ''
That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week. The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...
'' from 1978. While a reporter at the BBC for '' Man Alive'', he joined Eric Parsloe's video production company Epic. The BBC put him in charge of producing the programme ''
Food and Drink ''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations. Histo ...
,'' where he claims to have created the
celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
. He continued producing by forming his own production company Bazal, which created hits for British TV including ''
Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...
'', '' Changing Rooms'' and '' Ground Force.'' In 1990, Bazal was acquired by Broadcast Communications, which itself was absorbed by Endemol. In January 2005 Bazalgette became Chairman of
Endemol UK Endemol Shine UK (branded as EndemolShine UK and formerly Endemol UK Ltd) is a British production company. Since 2020, the company has been a subsidiary of Banijay. Endemol Shine UK incorporates a number of production brands, including Artist ...
and Creative Director of Endemol Group worldwide. He was responsible for shows including '' Big Brother'' and ''
Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a. ...
'' which were hits around the world, and led Endemol's digital entertainment strategy. Although ''Big Brother'' was an adaption of an existing series in the
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 ...
, Bazalgette is credited with popularising the format around the world thanks to the adaptations he built into the UK version. During Bazalgette's time on the global board, Endemol grew strongly and in 2005 it was launched on the Dutch stock exchange. Over the next eighteen months it trebled in value and was sold in 2007 for €3.2 billion. In September 2007 it was announced that Bazalgette was standing down as Chairman and would assume the role of advisor. Bazalgette has long championed the value of the BBC for its trusted news and critical investment in original programming and creative talent. Along with others he has speculated how long the current funding model of the BBC will last, and whether in the future the licence fee might be reduced to pay specifically for core news and information content. Bazalgette has been awarded fellowships by BAFTA and the Royal Television Society, and was president of the Royal Television Society 2010-2017. He was as a non-executive director of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...
. In September 2012 he was appointed chairman of Arts Council England, and began his 4-year term on 31 January 2013. ''
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 publish ...
'' argued that he may be "the most influential man in British television" as a result of his impact on the development of reality television and lifestyle TV programmes. The '' Daily Mail'' once named him as one of the "Ten Worst Britons" for Endemol's Channel 4 show '' Big Brother'' and the ''
London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'' television critic Victor Lewis-Smith said that Bazalgette had "done more to debase television over the past decade than anyone else." In September 2012 it was announced that he would succeed Dame Elizabeth Forgan as Chair of the Arts Council England. This was during a time of cuts to public arts spending, partly remedied with a new system of tax credits. In September 2016 it was announced that
Sir Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. ...
would replace him at the Arts Council England. In February 2016 Bazalgette was named as the Chairman of ITV, effective from 12 May 2016. In March 2022 ITV announced that Peter Bazalgette would step down as Chairman of ITV, effective from 29 September 2022.


Other interests

Bazalgette has co-written four books including ''The Food Revolution'', ''You Don't Have to Diet'', and a biography of Egon Ronay. He is author of a study of the international TV formats business, ''Billion Dollar Game'' and, more recently, ''The Empathy Instinct''. He is a speaker at global media events and lectures on media convergence and creativity. He has written widely on privacy and the internet, young people and voting, arts and philanthropy, public service broadcasting and student volunteering. He is very active of the field of public policy as it relates to media and the creative industries. He was a consultant to two of Sony’s television divisions in the UK, and was non-executive director of Base79. In early 2017, he was tasked with leading the new independent review of the creative industries for BEIS and DCMS. He is a former board member of
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 ...
and former Deputy Chairman of the National Film & Television School where he helped put up an £8million new teaching building. He was Chairman of
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
and was a Trustee of Debate Mate.


References


External links

*
Profile
''The Guardian'', May 2010; accessed 17 March 2014.
Peter Bazalgette profile
Media Masterclass on Producing Television, blip.tv; accessed 17 March 2014. *
The people who ruined the decade: PETER BAZALGETTE TV's posh popularist
guardian.co.uk; accessed 17 March 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bazalgette, Peter 1953 births Living people People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Presidents of the Cambridge Union British television executives BAFTA fellows Knights Bachelor Businesspeople from London Chairmen of ITV