Sir William John Haley, KCMG (24 May 1901 – 6 September 1987) was a British newspaper editor and broadcasting

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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 Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

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 20 ...

'', 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 The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...

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

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as 'Talking of Books'. While at the BBC he created the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

, which was replaced by

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in 1967. He was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1946. He was editor-in-chief of ''

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 t ...

'' 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

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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 {{UK-tv-bio-stub