Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead CBE (b.1951) was born in Birkenhead and joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1973, working on a wide range of TV and radio news programmes, before being made Editor of the Nine O'Clock News in 1985.
Two years later he was appointed Editor of News and Current Affairs, the first time the role had been combined, as part of then deputy Director-General John Birt's reorganisation of the BBC's News division. Hall then became Director of this division in 1990 and was regarded as one of Birt's key lieutenants after he became Director-General in 1992.
He ran BBC News for more than a decade, overseeing the launch of Radio 5 Live, BBC News 24 and BBC News Online, before leaving the Corporation for the Royal Opera House in 2001. He was granted a Life Peerage in 2010. He became Director-General in Spring 2013, making him the first member of the House of Lords to serve as 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-
