Gregory Dyke (b.1947) was Director-General from 2000 to 2004.
Greg Dyke's pre-BBC career was in commercial and independent television, including TV-AM, TVS, Pearson and Channel 5. The BBC Board of Governors valued his commercial experience when they appointed him Director-General.
He changed BBC reporting lines so that he worked more closely with programme-makers and introduced measures to save money in non-programme departments. In his time he launched the Freeview digital television platform, hastening the transition from analogue to digital, and he injected a fresh style of management that engaged staff as few DGs had done before.
He resigned after the Hutton Report, investigating the death of government weapons expert David Kelly, condemned the BBC's editorial decision to broadcast a Today Programme report about the government's decision to go to war in Iraq.
He was chairman of the Football Association from 2013 to 2016 and is now Chancellor of the University of York.
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-
