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John Reith - Lord Reith of Stonehaven 1889-1971

John Reith was born in Stonehaven, Scotland in 1889. After being educated at Glasgow Academy he served an engineering apprenticeship, starting his career as a locomotive fitter. Wounded during the First World War he departed on a supply mission to the United States where, he became inspired by the optimism and dynamism of American society. Reith specialized in radio communication and in December 1922 was appointed general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, an organization was set up by a group of executives from radio manufacturers.

   

In 1927 the government then established the  (BBC) British Broadcasting Corporation  as a monopoly operated by a board of governors and a director general. The BBC was funded by a parliament set licence fee. The fee paid by all owners of radio sets, with the BBC therefore becoming the world's first public-service broadcasting organization, on which, unlike in the United States, advertising  was banned.

With no formal training, but a dogged and autocratic personality, John Reith is generally acknowledged to have defined the basis, character, ethos and ambition of the BBC.

Reith was adamant that the BBC should become a national broadcaster, allowing news and events that had previously been accessible only to a minority of people, to become an everyday part of British life. He called it 'making the nation as one man', with a charter to inform, educate and entertain. At a time when most adult listeners had no formal education beyond the age of 14, Reith also sought to use the BBC for education and improvement, forming strong links with adult education services and firmly inculcating the BBC with its public service ethic. Having established the BBC as an institution at home (by the end of the 1930s, 75% of British homes had a radio), Reith sought to expand radio-broadcasting overseas, pioneering the Empire Shortwave Broadcasting Service (later the BBC World Service) in 1932. It was also under Reith that the BBC inaugurated the first regular schedule of public television broadcasts in the world, in 1936.

The BBC began the world's first regular television service in 1936. Two years later Reith left the BBC to join Imperial Airways.

It is reported that his dogged inflexibility was to blame and that he was forced out in a managerial coup. In compensation he was ennobled becoming Baron Reith of Stonehaven. His early political leanings were also fulfilled when he became Member of Parliament for Southampton in 1940 afterwards replaced Chamberlain in May 1940 serving as Minister of Works in the wartime government. As chairman of the new Commonwealth Telecommunications Board (1946-50), he reorganised the cable and wireless systems of the Commonwealth. From 1950 to 1959 he was chairman of the Colonial Development Corporation - another area in which he worked to nurture the same virtues of improvement, education and public service.

Despite these later positions however, the contribution to social development for which Reith is best remembered is his leadership of the BBC. Reith was idiosyncratic and may not have been always easy to work with. Nonetheless, he was instrumental in shaping one of the great institutions of the twentieth century, arguably one of the most successful cultural and educational institutions in the world. In this year of Dialogue between Civilisations, Reith's vision - embodied in the BBC coat of arms as 'Nation shall speak unto Nation' - is as important today as ever. While people across the globe continue to turn to the BBC for reliable, impartial and independent reporting of tumultuous events, Lord Reith can rest secure knowing that his vision is intact. John Reith died in 1971
 
 
 
 
 
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A tall (6'7"), energetic and imposing son of a Scottish church minister, Reith was an engineer who was recruited to run the BBC in 1922, aged just 33. Radio was still a young industry, and his vision not only shaped the future of the BBC, but of radio broadcasters throughout the world.

Reith was passionate about public service broadcasting. He was a strictly moral man who believed that radio should offer national coverage and high-quality programmes. Furthermore, radio should be publicly funded to avoid commercial dumbing-down, whilst remaining politically independent.

His self-righteous, unshakeable beliefs became out-of-date, and as a result the BBC was slow both to take on television (which he thought would reduce standards) or to relax his high-minded approach to programme-making.

Although both respected and feared, Reith was removed from his job by the BBC's Board of Governors after 16 years, to his eternal bitterness.

 

 

 

  

 
 
Facts     William Wallace attacked the nearby Dunnottar Castle, killing nearly all inside.