Everything about John Reith 1st Baron Reith totally explained
John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith KT GCVO GBE CB TD PC (
20 July 1889–
16 June 1971) was a
Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent
public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In
1922 he was employed by the commercial monopoly registered as the
British Broadcasting Company Ltd. as its General Manager; in
1923 he became its Managing Director and in
1927 he was employed as the Director-General of the
British Broadcasting Corporation created under a
Royal Charter. His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar organizations around the world.
Early life
Born at
Stonehaven,
Kincardineshire, Reith was the youngest, by ten years, of the seven children of the Revd Dr George Reith, a
minister of the
United Free Church of Scotland (later amalgamated with
Church of Scotland, and not to be confused with the
Free Church of Scotland). He was to carry the strict
Presbyterian religious convictions of
the Kirk forward into his adult life. Reith was educated at the
Glasgow Academy then at
Gresham's School,
Holt,
Norfolk. He was an indolent child who had used his intelligence to escape hard work but he was genuinely disappointed when his father refused to support any further education and
apprenticed him an
engineer at the
North British Locomotive Company. Reith had been a keen sportsman at school and only learnt to tolerate his apprenticeship through part-time
soldiering in the
1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers and
5th Scottish Rifles.
In
1914, Reith left
Glasgow for
London, largely in pursuit of a 17 year-old schoolboy, Charlie Bowser, on whom he appears to have formed something of a crush. Though he readily found work at the
Royal Albert Dock, his commission in the
Cameronians soon found him serving in
World War I. He was struck in the cheek by a bullet in October 1915, at which time he was a
Lieutenant, and transferred to the
Royal Engineers. He spent the next two years in the
United States, supervising armament contracts, and became attracted to the country, fantasising of moving there with Bowser after the war. He was promoted
Captain in 1917, before transferring to the
Royal Marine Engineers in 1918 as a
Major. He returned to the Royal Engineers as a Captain in 1919 and resigned his
Territorial Army commission in 1921.
On his return to the UK, Reith and Bowser both fell in love with Muriel Odhams. Reith won Muriel's hand but warned her that she
must share me with C. He sought to redress the asymmetry by finding a partner for Bowser but Reith's subsequent jealousy interrupted the men's friendship, much to Reith's pain. Nonetheless, Reith continued to note Bowser's birthday in his diary until the end of his life.
However, the end of the war saw a reconciliation, with Reith's return to Glasgow as General Manager of an engineering firm and Bowser becoming his assistant. But the lure of London proved too much for Reith and in
1922, he returned there. Dabbling in
politics, despite his family's
Liberal Party sympathies, he ended up working as secretary to the London
Conservative group of
MPs in the
United Kingdom general election, 1922. Perhaps prophetically, that election's results were the first to be
broadcast on the
radio.
The BBC
» See also British Broadcasting Company.
Reith had no previous broadcasting experience when he replied to the advertisement in
The Morning Post for a General Manager for an as-yet unformed British Broadcasting Company in 1922. However he later admitted that he felt he possessed the credentials necessary to manage any company. He managed to retrieve his original application from the post-box after re-thinking his approach, guessing that his Aberdonian background would curry more favour with Sir William Noble, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Committee.
In his new role, he was, in his own words: }}
The Labour leadership wasn't the only high-profile body denied a chance to comment on the strike. The
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Randall Davidson, wanted to broadcast a "peace appeal" drawn up by church leaders which called for an immediate end to the strike, renewal of government subsidies to the coal industry and no cuts in miners’ wages.
Davidson telephoned Reith about his idea on
7th May, saying he'd spoken to the Prime Minister,
Stanley Baldwin, who had said he wouldn't stop the broadcast, but would prefer it not to happen. Reith later wrote:
...A nice position for me to be in between Premier and Primate, bound mightily to vex one or other. |
Reith asked for the government view and was advised not to allow the broadcast because he suspected if it went ahead it would give the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Winston Churchill, an excuse to commandeer the BBC. Churchill had already lobbied Baldwin to that effect. Reith rang the Archbishop to turn him down and explain that he feared if the talk went ahead, the government might take the company over.
Reith admitted to his staff that he regretted the lack of TUC and Labour voices on the airwaves. Nonetheless, many commentators have seen Reith's stance during that period as pivotal in establishing the state broadcaster's enduring reputation for impartiality.
After the strike ended, the BBC’s Programme Correspondence Department analysed the reaction to the coverage. Some 3,696 people complimented the BBC; 176 were critical.
The British Broadcasting Corporation
The British Broadcasting Company was part-share owned by a committee of members of the wireless industry, including
British Thomson-Houston,
General Electric,
Marconi and
Metropolitan-Vickers. However, Reith had been in favour of the company being taken into public ownership, as he felt that despite the boards under which he'd served so far allowing him a high degree of latitude on all matters, not all future members might do so. Although opposed by some (including in Government), the BBC became a
corporation in
1927. Reith was
knighted the same year.
Reith's autocratic approach became the stuff of BBC legend. His preferred approach was one of benevolent
dictator, but with built-in checks to his power. Throughout his life Reith remained convinced that that approach was the best way to run an organisation. Later Director-General
Greg Dyke, profiling Reith in
2007, noted that the term
Reithian has entered the dictionary to denote a particular style of management, particularly with relation to broadcasting. Reith also bequeathed the BBC's purpose in three words:
educate, inform, entertain, which remains part of the organisation's
mission statement to this day. It has also been appropriated by broadcasters throughout the world, notably
PBS in the
United States.
The Abdication Broadcast
In
1936 Reith personally oversaw the abdication broadcast of
Edward VIII. By then his style had become well-established in the public eye. He personally introduced the ex-King (as 'Prince Edward'), before standing aside to allow Edward to take the chair. Doing so, Edward accidentally knocked the table leg with his foot, which was picked up by the microphone. Reith later noted in an interview with
Malcolm Muggeridge that the headlines interpreted that as Reith 'slamming the door' in disgust before Edward began broadcasting.
Departure
Reith was invited to resign his post at the BBC in 1938 by
Neville Chamberlain by being made the offer of the chairmanship of
Imperial Airways. Some commentators have suggested a conspiracy amongst the Board of Governors to remove him, but that has never been proved. He left Broadcasting House with no ceremony (at his request) but in tears. That evening he attended a dinner party before driving out to
Droitwich to close down a transmitter personally. He signed the visitor's book
J.C.W. Reith, late BBC.
Reithianism
Reith's legacy in broadcasting is often referred to as 'Reithianism'. Its principles are said to be public service, high standards, probity, and universality—that is, considering all viewers to be equal. Reithianism is contrary to the free-market approach, as in commercial television viewers from higher social groups are preferred: gaining them attracts advertising revenue.
Reith's detractors are more likely to say that Reithianism is Establishment-minded, elitist, and monocultural.
Wartime activities
In
1940 Reith was appointed
Minister of Information in Chamberlain's government. So as to perform his full duties he became a
Member of Parliament for
Southampton. When Chamberlain fell and Churchill became Prime Minister his long running feud with Reith led to the latter being moved to the
Ministry of Transport. He was subsequently moved to become
First Commissioner of Works which he held for the next two years, through two restructurings of the job, and was also transferred to the
House of Lords by being created
Baron Reith of Stonehaven.
During that period the city centres of
Coventry,
Plymouth and
Portsmouth were destroyed by German bombing. Reith urged the local authorities to begin planning the postwar reconstruction. He was dismissed from his government post by Churchill, who stated that he found Reith difficult with whom to work. For his part, Reith's animosity towards Churchill continued. Despite being offered the post of
Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland (one he'd long coveted), he couldn't bring himself to accept it, noting in his diary: "Invitation from that bloody shit Churchill to be Lord High Commissioner."
He took a naval commission as a
Lieutenant-Commander of the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) on the staff of the
Rear-Admiral Coastal Services. In 1943 he was promoted to
Captain (RNVR), and appointed Director of the Combined Operations Material Department at the
Admiralty, a post he held until early
1945.
Post-war
In
1946 he was appointed chairmanship of the
Commonwealth Telecommunications Board, a post he held until
1950. He was then appointed chairman of the
Colonial Development Corporation which he held until
1959. In
1948 he was also appointed the chairman of the
National Film Finance Corporation, an office he held until
1951.
The BBC
Reith Lectures were instituted in
1948 in his honour. These annual radio talks, with the aim of advancing "public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest" have been held every year since (with the exception of 1992).
The
Independent Television Authority was created on
30 July 1954 ending the BBC's existing broadcasting monopoly. Lord Reith didn't approve of its creation. Speaking at the Opposition
dispatch box in the Lords, he stated:
... Somebody introduced Christianity into England and somebody introduced smallpox, bubonic plague and the Black Death. Somebody is minded now to introduce sponsored broadcasting ... Need we be ashamed of moral values, or of intellectual and ethical objectives? It is these that are here and now at stake. |
In November
1955 Cable & Wireless moved from
Electra House,
Embankment into its new headquarters in
Theobalds Road, London. The building was named
Mercury House after the
Roman messenger of the gods and was officially opened by Lord Reith in December
1955.
Later years
In
1960 he returned to the BBC for an interview with
John Freeman in the television series
Face to Face. When he visited the BBC to record the programme, work was being undertaken, and Reith noticed with dismay the 'girlie' pin-ups of the workmen. However one picture was of a
Henry Moore sculpture. "A
Third Programme carpenter, forsooth," he growled.
In the interview he expressed his disappointment at not being "fully stretched" in his life, especially after leaving the BBC. He claimed that he could have done more than Churchill gave him to do during the war. He also disclosed an abiding dissatisfaction with his life in general. He admitted not realising soon enough that "life is for living," and suggested he perhaps still didn't acknowledge that fact. He also stated that since his departure as Director-General, he'd watched almost no television and listened to virtually no radio. "When I leave a thing, I leave it," he said.
In his later years he also held directorships at the
Phoenix Assurance Company,
Tube Investments Ltd, the
State Building Society (
1960–
1964) and was the vice-chairman of the
British Oxygen Company (
1964–
1966).
He was also appointed
Lord Rector of
Glasgow University from
1965 to
1968. In
1967 he finally accepted the much-cherished post of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. His final television appearance was in a three-part documentary series entitled
Lord Reith Looks Back in 1967, filmed at Glasgow University.
Reith wrote two autobiographies:
Into The Wind in
1956 and
Wearing Spurs in
1966.
He died in
Edinburgh aged 81, following a fall. His ashes were buried in accordance with his wishes at the ancient, ruined chapel of
Rothiemurchus in
Inverness-shire.
My Father — Reith of the BBC
A biography,
My Father — Reith of the BBC, written by his daughter
Marista Leishman, was published on
29 September 2006. In it she claims that her father was a
Nazi sympathiser who abhorred
Jews. He banned the playing of
jazz music on the BBC, and Leishman says that he wrote in his diary that "
Germany has banned hot jazz and I’m sorry that we should be behind in dealing with this filthy product of
modernity." Leishman says that on
9 March 1933 Reith wrote "I am certain that the Nazis will clean things up and put Germany on the way to being a real power in Europe again.... They are being ruthless and most determined"; and in March 1939, when
Prague was occupied, he wrote: "Hitler continues his magnificent efficiency."
The book also claims that Reith enjoyed extramarital relationships with a series of malleable young women and once, while in his 20s, had a sexual relationship with a man. Leishman says that her mother was distressed at the way he lived his life but soldiered on. He was a distant figure to his daughter who says 'I met my father only occasionally as a small child. And when I did, he was still being a public figure. My role in life was to support his image and to deliver a perfect performance, which I conspicuously failed to do.'
His daughter portrays a man who was both "magnificent and impossible." His contrary character and skills of organisation and oratory enabled him to build public service broadcasting and set the standards for future generations and broadcasters everywhere to aspire to. These same traits resulted in him making controversial statements for their own shock-value and making life at home difficult as the family were at the mercy of his moods. He was estranged with his daughter for several years because she'd stated her intention of getting married. Towards her husband he was openly hostile, telling him how much he loathed him and moving him to the top of his 'Hate List' which he constantly updated and revised. Also featuring on the list at various times were Churchill,
Montgomery,
Earl Mountbatten,
Anthony Eden and
Hugh Dalton. He died leaving only £75 in his will, testament to his extravagant lifestyle which had at times included eight servants along with nannies. His last years were wrought with depression and contemplations of
suicide. At the time of his death, he was living in Edinburgh in a
grace-and-favour apartment with the ever-faithful Muriel.
Footnotes
Other References
- My Father - Reith of the BBC by Marista Leishman, published by St Andrew Press 29 September 2006. Illustrated.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Reith 1st Baron Reith'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_reith__1st_baron_reith.totallyexplained.com">John Reith, 1st Baron Reith Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
