Stephen Hearst (born Stephen Hirshtritt; 6 October 1919 – 27 March 2010) was an Austrian-born British television and radio executive.

Early life and career

Born in Vienna, the son of a dentist who was close to the Mahler family, Hearst had begun to study medicine, but fleeing from the Nazis became imperative after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

in 1938 had driven him underground because of his Jewish background and anti-fascist activities.Obituary: Stephen Hearst
telegraph.co.uk, 1 April 2010 The family settled in Britain, and after a brief period studying horticulture and being interned,Michael Leapma

''The Independent'', 18 May 2010 Hearst served in the Pioneer Corps during the war. After

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

, he studied history at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

."Obituary: Stephen Hearst, BBC executive in television and radio"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 4 April 2010 After working freelance on newsreel scripts, Hearst joined the BBC's staff in 1952, and moving over to documentaries where he continued writing their narration. After two years writing for programmes involving

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 ...

, he was a writer-producer from 1955 to 1965, becoming executive producer of arts' programmes under

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 ...

, and then deputy to

Humphrey Burton Humphrey is both a masculine given name and a surname. An earlier form, not attested since Medieval times, was Hunfrid. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Medieval period :''Ordered chronologically'' *Hunfrid of P ...

, the first head of BBC music and arts, in 1965.

Philip Purser Philip John Purser (28 August 1925 – 1 August 2022) was a British television critic and novelist. Life and career Purser was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire on 28 August 1925. His mother had been the first female student of an art school ...

Leslie Megahey Norman Leslie Megahey (22 December 1944 – 27 August 2022) was a British television producer, director and writer. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of Thomas Megahey (a minister) and Beatrice (née Walton), Leslie Megahey was educated ...

"Stephen Hearst obituary"
''The Guardian'', 30 March 2010 Hearst was responsible for developing the 'personal view' documentary format with Sir Compton Mackenzie's ''The Glory That Was Greece'' (1959) and several projects with the archaeologist

Sir Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales a ...

, this time concerning Ancient Rome, around the same time. In 1967 he became head of television arts features and championed this approach leading to the 13 part series'

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

's ''

Civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...

'' (1969) and

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

'' (1972). By the time the latter programme was finally transmitted, Hearst had moved on to the next stage of his BBC career.

Later life and career

He became Controller of Radio 3 on 1 January 1972,

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkli ...

. ''The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the BBC Third Programme and Radio 3'', London: Phoenix, 1997

996 Year 996 ( CMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * February - Chotoku Incident: Fujiwara no Korechika and Takaie shoot an arrow at Retired Em ...

p.267 and had explicitly stated at his interview the relevance of audience figures, a point which he thought had given him preferment over his main rival,

Martin Esslin , birth_date = , birth_place = Budapest, Austria-Hungary , death_date = , death_place = London, England, UK , education = University of ViennaMax Reinhardt Seminar, ...

, another Viennese émigré. Hearst was viewed with suspicion as a 'television man' by his new colleagues, and according to producer

Philip French Philip Neville French Order of the British Empire, OBE (28 August 1933 – 27 October 2015) was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio prod ...

had "a degree of contempt" for radio which was "never made absolutely explicit", but did nevertheless create "a relaxed atmosphere" at Radio 3. Hearst clashed with music department colleagues who attempted to resist his toning down of an overtly academic approach to introducing classical music and he came up with the practice of 'themed' evenings or weekends, a policy which still continues, as well as giving titles to concerts. Simulcasts on radio and television began under Hearst, who was well aware of the poor sound quality television loudspeakers provided at the time.

Daniel Snowman Daniel Snowman (born 4 November 1938, aged 84) is a British writer, historian, lecturer and broadcaster on social and cultural history. His career has spanned the academic world and the BBC, while his books include ''Kissing Cousins'' (a compara ...

''The Hitler Emigrés: The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism''
London: Pimlico, 2003

002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'', *1965 Italian film *Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 ...

p.110 He remained the controller of Radio 3 until 1978, and then joined the BBC's Future Policy Group. In 1982, he was appointed as the special advisor of the new Director General

Alasdair Milne Alasdair David Gordon Milne (8 October 19308 January 2013) was a British television producer and executive. He had a long career at the BBC, where he was eventually promoted to Director-General, and was described by ''The Independent'' as "one ...

, although Hearst had retired from the post by the time Milne was forced to resign in early 1987. "Public service broadcasting is likely to go down as the greatest British cultural invention of the 20th century", Hearst once wrote. At the end of the 1970s, he became a Visiting Professor at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Stephen Hearst died in London.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearst, Stephen 1919 births 2010 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss BBC executives Hearst, Stephen Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers