Sir Charles John Curran (13 October 1921 – 9 January 1980) was an Irish-born British television executive and

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 1969 to 1977.

Early years

Curran was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. His father, Felix Curran, was an army schoolmaster and his mother, Alicia Isabella Bruce, came from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

. Three weeks after his birth, the family moved to Aberdeen, then his family moved to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in 1924. He was the eldest child in a family of four siblings. He attended Wath Grammar School, before obtaining a first-class honours degree at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Ma ...

Career

He served in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

from 1942 to 1945, but left to work in the BBC Talks department. He resigned following a dispute to edit the ''Canadian Fishing News'', but he returned in 1951 to join

BBC Monitoring BBC Monitoring (BBCM) is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation which monitors, and reports on, mass media worldwide using open-source intelligence. Based at New Broadcasting House, the BBC's headquarters in central London, it has ...

. Subsequent posts included Secretary and Director of External Broadcasting. While

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

, he served three terms as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

. He succeeded

Ronnie Waldman Ronald Hartley Waldman (13 May 1914 – 10 March 1978) was a British radio presenter and television executive for the BBC. Biography Born in London, he was the eldest son of Michael Waldman OBE JP, a sometime Mayor of Hackney, and was educa ...

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of the

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

Visnews in 1977. He was

from 1 April 1969 to 30 September 1977. He was the first

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

-educated Director-General. Following the appointment of the former Conservative minister Lord Hill as Chairman of the BBC Governors in 1967 (ironically, the Labour

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

who appointed Hill,

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

, had attacked Hill's appointment as chairman of the

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...

under a Conservative government in 1963), Curran's arrival marked a return to a more cautious approach after the radicalism of Sir Hugh Carleton Greene. Curran also suffered criticism from Harold Wilson, at that time the Leader of the Opposition, who claimed that the documentary ''

Yesterday's Men "Yesterday's Men" is a song by the English ska and pop band Madness, released on 19 August 1985 as the lead single from their sixth studio album ''Mad Not Mad'' (1985). It was written by Graham McPherson and Chris Foreman, and produced by Cli ...

'' (1971) was biased against himself and the Labour Party, an assertion the BBC now accepts. A parallel documentary at the time on the Heath government passed without incident. Unlike Greene, Curran allowed himself to be influenced by

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permi ...

. Curran issued an apology to Whitehouse after she complained about the violence at the end of part three of '' The Deadly Assassin'' (1976), a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' serial.

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television befo ...

, then series producer, was replaced after only three more serials and his successor, Graham Williams, was ordered to lighten the tone and reduce the violence and horror content.David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen James Walker ''Doctor Who: The Seventies'', Niagara, NY: London Bridge, 1994. p. 108 It was under Curran that the BBC produced some of its best-loved and most consistently repeated comedy series, such as ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran fo ...

'', ''

Porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

'' and the first series of ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

''. Curran has often been blamed for an unenthusiastic and somewhat censorious attitude towards ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became ...

'', but the Python team still won many of their battles with BBC officialdom. The ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' series continued to take risks throughout Curran's eight years as Director-General. The '' Morecambe and Wise Show'' became one of the best-loved British TV institutions ever between 1969 and 1977, and the Curran era also saw the development of

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

's hugely popular Saturday-night chat show.

Knighthood and death

Curran was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are ...

in 1974.Supplement to the London Gazette of Friday, 28 December 1973, No. 46162, Tuesday, 1 January 1974, p. 1 Following a period of ill health, Curran died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on 9 January 1980, aged 58. His funeral was held in

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Charles 1921 births 1980 deaths English male journalists English television executives BBC executives Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge People educated at Wath Academy Knights Bachelor International Emmy Directorate Award English people of Scottish descent Indian Army personnel of World War II British Indian Army officers European Broadcasting Union 20th-century English businesspeople Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom