Non-disclosure

As probably the only person in the world to contemplate a Ph.D. in Yentob Studies at the Open University, I feel certain readers would expect me to provide a textual analysis of the great man's latest bon mots, as expressed to Tara Conlan, of The Guardian.

Alan Yentob is having his picture taken on a staircase overlooking the vast BBC newsroom at New Broadcasting House and telling me about the flooding at his house in Somerset when we are interrupted by annoyed news staff. The building has been open for more than a year, and the Creative Director, who's done programmes on snappers as varied as Don McCullin and Vivian Maier, hasn't noticed the signs about photography, in particular flash photography ?

"I always felt that Tony should've been the director general. Yes, I did talk to [Lord Patten] about it and I did speak to Tony."  There's much more along these lines in the piece, reinforcing a view about Yentob's continued employment expressed by a shrewd observer - "He knows where the bodies are buried".

"Known as the BBC's "Mr Fixit", he has the experience to defend it in troubled times..."  The nickname could come from Tara's own research, but it's possible it was Alan's suggestion. It's not how he was known in my 34 years in the organisation. In an effort to keep this blog suitable for work, I will not comment further.

"I know from my colleagues that they like working with me and there's no hierarchical feel with me". Half of this isn't surprising - only one person works for him. According to an FoI response in November last year, "Mr Yentob reports directly to the Director General, Tony Hall, and has one direct report which is his Personal Assistant."

Why has he carried on when he might have retired? "I love that whole egalitarian thing about the BBC. It's a bonding mechanism for Britain. It's like the NHS, it gets into trouble quite a lot and it has to explain itself and it has bits which need to be fixed."   And with a wave of his whole egalitarian hand, Alan pottered back to his London home on the tenth-most-expensive street in the UK, before checking on his Somerset house, and heading to the Marrakech Biennale. BBC salaries are paid on the 15th of the month, as are BBC pensions. One isn't allowed to know when Mr Yentob receives his presenter payments, or how much they are.

[The BBC] "can't compete with its hands tied behind its back and being told: 'You can't pay the talent this and you've got to disclose everything you do' ."