Timothy David Gardam (born 14 January 1956), is a British

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, media executive and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He was Director of Television at

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 ...

until 2003, after which he served as Principal of St Anne's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

until 2016. He now serves as Chief Executive of the

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

Early life

Gardam was born on 14 January 1956 to the novelist

Jane Gardam Jane Mary Gardam (born 11 July 1928) is an English writer of children's and adult fiction. She also writes reviews for ''The Spectator'' and ''The Telegraph'', and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon, and Yorkshire. She has won nu ...

. He studied at

Rokeby Preparatory School Rokeby School is an independent all male preparatory day school in Kingston upon Thames, London. Its headmaster is Jason Peck. The school offers an education from 4 to 13 years through the integration of a pre- preparatory school and a preparat ...

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, where he obtained a double first in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Career

He subsequently worked at the BBC (where he created ''

Timewatch ''Timewatch'' is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29 September 1982 and is produced by the BBC. The ''Timewatch'' brandname is used as a ...

'' and edited ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

''), and as director of programmes at

, commissioning the first series of Big Brother. He was then appointed by the

Department of 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 ...

to lead a review of

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting s ...

in Britain. In January 2008, he began a three-year term on the board of

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, the independent regulatory authority for the UK communications industries. He was subsequently reappointed for a second three-year term. In 2004, he was elected Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford, succeeding

Ruth Deech Ruth Lynn Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE (''née'' Fraenkel; born 29 April 1943) is a British academic, lawyer, bioethicist and politician, most noted for chairing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), from 1994 to 2002, and as ...

. His achievements included the construction of a new library and the St Anne's Coffee Shop (STACS), and the strengthening of college finances, academic performance, and outreach efforts. In early 2016, Gardam announced that he would be stepping down as principal at the end of the academic year, in order to become chief executive of the

. He was Chairman of the Consumers' Association Council from 2015 to 2019.

References

Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge BBC people Heads of colleges in the United Kingdom British male journalists Channel 4 people Panorama (British TV programme) People educated at Westminster School, London Principals of St Anne's College, Oxford English television editors 1956 births {{UK-journalist-stub