EuropaWorld 12/1/2001 John Reith - Lord Reith of Stonehaven

Born the fifth son of a Scottish minister and trained as an engineer, John Reith may have seemed an unlikely candidate to head what was to become the world's first and foremost international broadcasting service - the BBC. A later successor to this post, John Birt, described him as high-minded, authoritarian, lonely, self-absorbed and inwardly-tormented - characteristics which might also seem out of place with the BBC's aspirations of public service, information and education. Nonetheless, despite a complete lack of formal training, and a dogged and autocratic personality, it was John Reith who is generally acknowledged to have defined the character, ethos and ambition of this institution more than any other person in its history.

John Reith was born in 1889 and graduated as an engineer from Glasgow Technical College, 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.

Returning to Britain in the 1920s, it became apparent that engineering was not his true vocation. He is reported to have written that he 'would a thousand times rather see a sunset than the most wonderful piece of engineering in the world'. Having discarded notions of a career in politics, Reith applied to the newly-formed BBC instead. He knew nothing of radio or broadcasting and did not even own a receiver, yet his can-do attitude led to his appointment in 1922. It was just one year later that he became a managing director. Four years after that and John Reith became the BBC's first director-general.

In this position 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'. 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.

Despite these successes Reith parted from the BBC in 1938, after 16 years in its service. 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. He then went on to hold a number of other notable appointments, becoming chairman of Imperial Airways Ltd and later of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. His early political leanings were also fulfilled when he became Member of Parliament for Southampton in 1940 afterwards 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.