INSIDE STORY

About edition:

The eagerly awaited, frequently explosive and always entertaining memoirs of the recent Director-General of the BBC, whose departure in January 2004 caused a huge popular outcry. Greg Dyke grew up in the 1950s in the small West London suburb of Hayes. Written off as a dud by his schoolteachers, he attended York University before becoming a local newspaper reporter. At the age of 30, he was unemployed. Then came his lucky break: he became a current affairs researcher at London Weekend Television. LWT, TVAM, TV5, Pearson Television — Greg Dyke’s progress has been an extraordinary rollercoaster ride through some of our favourite programmes, and his descriptions of the personalities and rivalries are animated by an irrepressible love of the medium.

Then, on 28 January 2000, he became Director-General of the BBC. His appointment was almost as controversial as his departure was to be exactly four years later; he was accused of being a ‘Tony crony’ and his instincts were regarded as being far too populist: Yet, in his relatively brief spell at the helm, he not only launched four new TV channels and five radio stations, but also transformed an organization blighted by his predecessor, John Birt.

Contents:

ILUSTRATIONS/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/THREE DAYS IN JANUARY/THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS/INTO TELEVISION/A YEAR AT TV-AM/TVS AND BACK TO LWT/JOINING THE BBC/THE BBC YEARS (1)/ THE BBC YEARS (2)/WHY DID THEY CRY?/TELEVISION AND SPORT/GILLIGA, KELLY, AND HUTTON/WHY HUTTON WAS WRONG/SOME FINAL THOUGHTS/INDEX