George Entwistle (b.1962) was Director-General in 2012.
Entwistle joined the BBC in 1989 as a broadcast journalism trainee, going on to be an Assistant Producer on Panorama. Future roles included Editor of Newsnight (a post he took up the day before the 9/11 attacks in USA), Head of TV Current affairs, Controller of Knowledge Commissioning and Director BBC Vision (covering all of the BBC's TV channels).
Entwistle took up the post of Director-General on 17 September 2012, but very soon became engulfed in the crisis over the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal, and then the subsequent issues over incorrect Newsnight coverage of Lord McAlpine. He resigned on 10 November 2012, making him the BBC's shortest lived Director-General.
Directors-General
John Reith
First Director-General, 1922-1938
FW Ogilvie
Second Director-General 1938-1942
Cecil Graves
Joint Director-General 1942-1943
RW Foot
Joint Director-General 1942-1943, Fourth Director-General 1943-1944
William Haley
Fifth Director-General 1944-1952
Ian Jacob
Sixth Director-General 1952-1959
Hugh Carleton-Greene
Seventh Director-General 1960-1969
Charles Curran
Eighth Director-General 1969-1977
Ian Trethowan
Ninth Director-General 1977-1982
Alasdair Milne
Tenth Director-General 1982-1987
Michael Checkland
Eleventh Director-General 1987-1992
John Birt
Twelfth Director-General 1992-2000
Greg Dyke
Thirteenth Director-General 2000-2004
Mark Thompson
Fourteenth Director-General 2004-2012
George Entwistle
Fifteenth Director-General 2012
Tony Hall
Sixteenth Director-General 2013-2020
Tim Davie
Seventeenth Director-General 2020-
