Who's Reithian Now?

As the BBC approaches its 90th birthday, arch scrutiniser and listeners' champion Roger Bolton examines the genesis of Reithian values and finds out how well Lord Reith - the first Director General of the BBC - lived up to his own exacting standards.

Memos and diary entries reveal Reith's spotless fingerprint on daily transmissions. "Hot jazz" was a "filthy product of modernity" and announcers should be "indirect and impersonal".

In conversation with Malcolm Muggeridge, Reith recalls how he stopped the BBC being taken over by the Government during the General Strike - a stand-off which caused a life-long rift with Churchill.

Former BBC Director General Greg Dyke says Reith set a precedent in establishing the Corporation's relationship with the Government and he talks about his own political conflicts. Ex-BBC radio controller and Reith biographer Ian McIntyre points out how Reith's public disdain for divorce and immorality contrasted with his own confused lovelife. Reith's daughter Marista Leishman - who wrote a frank biography of him - tells Bolton that her father's affairs were just his way of making himself the centre of attention.

Former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings says the role of the director general has strayed too far from its editorial origins. And BBC historian Jean Seaton assesses the impact and relevance of Reithian values in the 21st century.

Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.