Who is new BBC director general Tony Hall?
This morning it was announced that Tony Hall is to become the new director general at the BBC.
Hall, 61, has spent most of his career at the BBC, joining as a trainee in 1973 after graduating from Keble College. He then held various roles during his 28 years with the corporation, including senior producer at World at One, assistant editor of the Nine O'Clock News and output editor for Newsnight, before becoming chief executive of BBC News between 1996 and 2001. While at the BBC he helped launch Radio 5 Live, BBC Parliament, BBC News 24 and BBC News online.
He left the BBC in 2001 to become chief executive of the Royal Opera House. During the past 11 years there he was credited with bringing financial stability to the organisation and spearheading the launch of ROH2, a department devoted to developing new talent. His salary in this position increased from £165,000 to £205,000 p.a. between 2010 and 2011, making him the highest paid chief executive of any charity in the UK.
Outside of the Opera House, Hall is deputy chairman of Channel 4 Television and sits on the board of The British Council and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. He is also the founder chair of the Creative and Cultural & Skills Council and chairman of the Musical and Dance Scheme. With the exception of Paul Hamlyn Foundation, he will be stepping down from these other roles when he takes up the position of BBC director general in early March next year.
Hall was appointed a CBE in 2005 and in 2010 was created a life peer with the title Baron Hall of Birkinhead. He was chairman of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Board.
He is also the author of King Coal, a history of the National Union of Mineworkers, and Nuclear Power. Hall was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature at the University of London, and is an honorary Fellow of Keble College.