Sir William John Haley,
KCMG (24 May 1901 – 6 September 1987) was a British newspaper editor and broadcasting
administrator
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.
Biography
Haley grew up on the island of
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
and attended
Victoria College. In 1918 he began to study journalism, and in 1921 he secured his first newspaper employment at ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'', eventually being stationed in Brussels.
Early in his career on the ''
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...
'', Haley was found to be too shy to work as a reporter. He was then transferred to
subediting. He rose through the ranks becoming director of
Manchester Guardian and Evening News, Ltd after 8 years.
[
He served as Director-General of the BBC from 1944 to 1952 and from 1952 to 1966 he was editor of ''The Times''. At ''The Times'' he wrote a series of light-hearted bookish articles under the pseudonym 'Oliver Edwards'. These articles were published in 1957 by Heinemann as 'Talking of Books'. While at the BBC he created the BBC Third Programme, which was replaced by BBC Radio 3 in 1967.]Encyclopædia Britannica
The ( Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various ...
'' from January 1968 until resigning in April 1969 in an editorial dispute over how to adapt the work to new readers. It was reported that younger executives (including the company's president, Charles E. Swanson) wanted to introduce livelier materials, while Haley favoured the traditional approach and an expansion in size.[Henry Raymont, "Encyclopaedia Britannica Feud Seen", ''New York Times'', April 20, 1969]
Sir William died in a nursing home in Jersey.
External links
The Papers of Sir William John Haley
held at Churchill Archives Centre
Sources
1901 births
1987 deaths
Encyclopædia Britannica
British newspaper editors
British television executives
The Times people
People educated at Victoria College, Jersey
Jersey journalists
BBC executives
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
20th-century British journalists
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