Hall makes an entrance

Well, blow me down. Lord Patten HAS turned to Tony Hall as the next Director General of the BBC.

Disclosure - I joined the BBC on the same News Trainee scheme, back in 1973.

It's not the first time he's considered the post, but this time, they came to him - and, by the looks of it, he wasn't that difficult to persuade.

Expect "passion" and "commitment" to feature in all future statements. Here's his acceptance quote in the BBC press release.

 "I believe passionately in the BBC and that's why I have accepted Lord Patten's invitation to become Director General.

"This organisation is an incredibly important part of what makes the United Kingdom what it is. And of course it matters not just to people in this country – but to tens of millions around the world too.

"It's been a difficult few weeks – but together we'll get through it. I'm committed to ensuring our news services are the best in the world. I'm committed to making this a place where creative people, the best and the brightest, want to work. And I know from my first days here as a news trainee, to my time as head of news and current affairs, to my time now at the Royal Opera House, that I can't do it on my own. Having the right teams working together, sparking off each other, is key."

Will he be styled Lord Hall of Birkenhead ?

As you can hear from my voice

Tim Davie is said to be putting himself about inside the BBC with vigour as acting DG. Outside, he'll be on parade again next Tuesday, alongside Lord Patten, in front of the MPs of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

Expect tie, boring hair-cut, and shortish answers. Concise explanations were often missing in previous Westminster grillings; skim this account of what should have been easy-peasy, back in February 2010, in front of the Lords Communications Committee. Here's one mid-sized Q&A.

Evans the headhunter

I don't know what it'll do to the odds, but Chris Evans, millionaire DJ, author and thinker, has contributed his own person specification for the next Director General of the BBC (whilst also openly `dissing`, as I think they say, George Entwistle). Here's the core of a longer piece in the Mail.

Here’s what I would like, please: an individual who doesn’t have a single ‘dither’ in their whole body.

Someone who doesn’t fear the wrath of the BBC Trust. 

Someone who won’t feel faint if confronted during a live news interview. 

Someone who doesn’t seem like an overawed pupil to Lord Patten’s headmaster. In short, someone who probably doesn’t need the job at all; someone who has quite a nice life already and doesn’t see the post of DG as a stepping stone to a bigger pay cheque and better office. 

And finally, I don’t know why, but I also think it might help if the chosen individual is over 50 years old, with a kindly smile and a glint of mischief in their eye.

Stop messing about

Naughty boys are having fun with the country's major turf accountants, getting themselves on the odds list for next Director General. Tim Gatt, ITV News' digital output editor, is pleased to note that he's 5,000 to 1 with Ladbrokes.  The Daily Mail's deputy political editor, Tim Shipman is 1,000 to 1 with the same firm.

The fictional BBC commissioning editor, Tony Hayers, played by David Schneider in the Alan Partridge vehicle "Knowing Me, Knowing You", is 500 to 1 with Bet Victor.

Ric Bailey, the BBC's Chief Political Advisor, has entered the lists at 25/1.  I can't tell whether or not this is serious; it may be friends or family - everyone else spells his first name sensibly.

• Dan Sabbagh, in a piece with complicated attribution in The Guardian (sources close to a group of Trustees thought to include Alison Hastings) suggests a drive look outside the BBC once more. This presumably means than Ed Richards and "the man who can't be named", half of the previous final four, aren't in play. If the story's right, the odds on Dawn Airey and Peter Fincham will shorten.

• If Ed Llewellyn can't patch up the row between old boss Chris Patten and new boss David Cameron over George Entwistle's pay-off, then he'll be constructing a serious short-list for a new chair of the BBC Trust. I suspect it'll be very different from Paddy Power's initial suggestions. 

Ghostbuster

What next for Dom Loehnis, headhunter of Egon Zehnder International, who deftly rooted out insider George Entwistle for the role of BBC DG ? The fee, of £157,000 plus VAT won't pay much more than a week's rent on their Mayfair headquarters. But it was worthwhile to the BBC and Lord Patten for the delivery of Ed Richards as a candidate, and at least two other outsiders so far unnamed - one who fell at the prelims, and the fourth mystery finalist.  Was it Dom or Lord Patten himself who lead to these stories...

Hugh Muir: Guardian Diary 29th June: Who is in the field bar the obvious internal candidates who have not, the Diary gathers, overwhelmed the chair of the BBC Trust Lord Patten?

Meanwhile Dom continues to use Twitter as a lurker rather than a participant. His account remains either hacked or full of lower-ranking Zehnder opportunities.

Brace yourself

There's a weight off his shoulders. Or is it a weight loss round the middle ?  This week outgoing BBC DG Mark Thompson has been on jovial form, with the Candle of Multi-Platform Public Service Broadcasting handed safely to young Jedi George. Thommo, normally tie-less, has taken to wearing wide and obvious braces and loud ties.

Is he channelling Lou Grant, ahead of a stint at the New York Times ? Or is CNN looking to replace Piers Morgan ? Whatever, the consensus in the BBC is that Thommo's Going West - at least style-wise.

Patten gets his man

Was it The Pope that swung it ? In Autumn 2010, George Entwistle co-ordinated coverage of the Papal Visit - a visit managed for the UK Government by one Lord Patten. In February 2011, Lord Patten became Chairman of the BBC Trust. In April 2011, George Entwistle was appointed Director of Vision.

Now, after spending £157,000 plus VAT with headhunters Egon Zehnder International, Chris and George are in charge of things together again.  Ben Fenton at the FT understands that rival candidate Caroline Thomson will "move on" from her current role as Chief Operating Officer. Ed Richards will feel more than a touch of lese-majeste as he heads back to Ofcom offices on Southwark bridge. Still, he'll be able to join in meetings discussing the BBC again.  And I'll be gnashing my teeth trying to identify the mystery fourth candidates.

George, who turns 50 this coming weekend, was brought up in Yorkshire, going to independent Silcoates School and then Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, before heading to Durham to study Philosopy and Politics. With a 2.1 under his belt, in 1983 he joined Michael Heseltine's Haymarket Publications, and gained a reputation as an "audiophile" with the readers of "Hi Fi Answers", who remember his preferred reference set up of Townsend Rock turntable/Audio Innovations amplifier/Snell speakers.

He made it to the BBC in 1989 as a broadcast journalist trainee, then was appointed an assistant producer on Panorama. In 1993 he joined On The Record as a producer, where he won the nickname "General Sir George Entwistle", because of a track record of items about military history and "an obsession with tanks and guns and stuff". Then it was on to Newsnight, where he rose through the ranks - he took a year out to be deputy editor of Tomorrow's World in 1999, but was soon back with Paxo et al, eventually taking over as Editor less than 24 hours before the twin towers came under attack.

His steady hand saw the programme through the Dr David Kelly/Andrew Gilligan period, when Susan Watts was also working on the story of the Iraq dossier. In 2004 he moved to lead a newly-created Topical Arts Unit, which, with a budget of £8m over two years, brought us the Culture Show, and a less-remembered offering, The Desk, a weekly media show presented by Tyler Brule. In 2005 George was back in the bosom of news, as Head of TV Current Affairs, overseeing the move of Panorama back from Sunday night, to a new Jeremy Vine-fronted version, at just half an hour on Mondays.

In 2007, he was asked to run BBC4, during Controller Janice Hadlow's sabbatical. There he commissioned a Golden Age Of Steam season; Julia Bradbury's Railway Walks series and Ian Hislop's documentary on the Beeching closures remain among the most watched factual programmes in the channel's history (it says in the BBC Press office bio). In 2008, George acquired two roles - Controller, Knowledge Commissioning, following the departure of Glenwyn Benson, and Controller Editorial Standards, BBC Vision (a job created in Byfordian response to a range of issues, including the Blue Peter phone-in scandal). That year he also had to front the decision to drop tv coverage of Cruft's.

In February 2009 he was caught writing Birt-speak in a memo which found its way into the hands of C4's Jon Snow; it was all about how it was "imperative to engineer a major shift of commitment towards the devising and delivery of the integrated sub genre strategies essential to the next stage of the Knowledge strategy on all platforms".

The Sunday Times thought he might have had a comment to make about the infamous internal BBC talent league table leaked in December 2009, but George shut the door on a visiting reporter. The bottom category was headed "Occasional sparkle (but limited appeal)", and featured Delia Smith, Michael Palin, Sophie Raworth and Giles Coren.

He lists his interests as reading, music, Gothic architecture, and watching rugby union. He's married to artist and illustrator Jane Porter, whose interest in cleaning up the River Wandle, has more than once made it to BBC tv screens.

By George

Well, Lord Patten took the scenic route to get his chosen DG, George Entwistle, right under his nose all the time. Headhunters, rumours, mystery candidates are all forgotten over time. George, 49, has an amusing in-tray left for him by his ex-Panorama buddy, Mark Thompson - DQF, a new pay proposition, the sale of Television Centre, a new rationale for BBC World Service, and a press still largely hostile to Auntie on principle.

Congratulations to him. And happy birthday for Sunday...

Someone knows.....

So far this morning on Twitter, George Pascoe-Watson thinks Caroline Thomson is going to be the first female DG of the BBC. George was political editor of The Sun, and now works for Portland Communications, founded by Tony Blair's former spinner Tim Allan.

Also sticking with Caroline is James McIntyre, politics editor of Prospect magazine, formerly with the New Statesman, and biographer of Ed Miliband.

Me ?  No inside track, but after my favourite, Helen Boaden fell (at 9/1) I have a feeling in my waters for George Entwistle - the successor Thommo wanted all along.

• Extra fun with "mystery candidate". Jay Hunt keeps getting mentioned; I think it could be James Purnell (who used to be Tweedle-dum to Ed Richards' Tweedle-dee in BBC Strategy and Policy). Twitter wags offer Bob Diamond, Harry Redknapp, James Morgan and Samantha Janus. Many are offering strategic advice - bring back Top of The Pops, dispatch Chris Moyles, reverse DQF. 

Form book 34

Twitchy times: This from Ian Burrell in today's Independent "...it is looking unlikely that we will be getting our first female director general of the BBC, in spite of Caroline Thomson, the chief operating officer, and Helen Boaden, director of news, being among the early front-runners".

Michael Miles in Take Your Pick

Most commentators think there are/have been four in the final knockout round - Caroline Thomson, George Entwistle, Ed Richards and Box 13 - gender and identity unknown.

If that's right - and The Trust, as we know, are revelling in the cloak and dagger of all this - staff will be hoping the bunting's out this week on the streets of Southfields, for the King of the Wandle, George Entwistle - tipped by at least one Cabinet minister, and Mark Thompson's favourite from the start.

Still, online bookmaker Bodog has now made Ed Richards odds on, at 4/7.  Aaargh.

Form book 33

The tipping of FT editor Lionel Barber as a potential DG of the BBC, started in the Evening Standard and followed as recently as yesterday by The Guardian, might be at an end. The FT has today issued a statement to The Guardian: "Reports in the press that Lionel Barber has been interviewed for the role of the Director General of the BBC are incorrect."

Of course, this has potential as a non-denial denial. He might not have been interviewed yet. Meanwhile your feverish blogger is being berated by anonymous contacts who complain I'm behind the curve. The Trust are revelling in mis-direction, trying the make the thing look harder than it is. Will their decision remain secret  until 4th July ?

Un ballo in maschera

He could have been a showjumper. He could have stuck with the clarinet. Might he be the next Director General of the BBC ?

Hugh Muir, diarist for The Guardian, suggests that one of the mystery candidates is John Berry, 50-year-old artistic director of the English National Opera. From his roots in Sandbach, John studied clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music, and then at Mannes College, in the Upper West Side of New York, under Gervase De Peyer.  Then followed roughly a decade working as an artist's agent, on his own and for Harrison Parrott.  In 1990, with a little family support, he set up the Brereton Hall International Music Symposium (Sandbach).

In 1995, he joined ENO as casting director, then became head of planning. In 2005, famously without advertisement or interview, he was announced as Artistic Director; at the same time, Loretta Tomasi became Chief Executive.

The ENO runs on roughly £34 million a year - half of that comes from The Arts Council. The BBC's total income in 2010/11 was very close to £5bn, with £3.6bn of that coming from the licence fee.

Antony Fry, chairman of Dairy Crest, Cala Homes, and the UK end of Portguese investment bank Espirito Santo (he was formerly an investment banker for Rothschilds, Credit Suisse, and yes, Lehman Brothers), is on the Board of ENO, and is a Trustee of the BBC.

When strategists go to war...

Ofcom says BBC1's spending on original programming fell last year, the biggest drop across the public sector broadcasters. But the BBC's Director of Strategy and Policy, John Tate*, fearlessly says Ofcom have got the wrong end of the stick, and their figures are all nonsense anyway.

Here's the actual words from Ofcom: The most pronounced percentage reduction in first-run investment in 2011 was on BBC One, down by 16% to £719m; in absolute terms, BBC One spend also fell by the greatest amount, down by £140m.


John Tate's riposte is here. Do you think he's confident Ed Richards won't be his new boss ?


*Occasionally also styled "Group Director Strategic Operations"

Nights out

The entertaining of BBC Chairman Lord Patten over the last six months makes good reading, in the context of the 2012 DG Stakes.

In December, Lord and Lady Patten went to a private viewing of Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition in the National Gallery, courtesy of DG headhunters, Egon Zehnder.  It must have been too much to take in - in January, Lord and Lady Patten were back at the same exhibition, this time as guests of Caroline Thomson, in her role as National Gallery Trustee.  In February Caroline was a 2/1 favourite to be the next DG.

Lord Patten's No 2, Diane Coyle also went to the Leonardo thing, in December, again as guest of Caroline, but widened her horizons, on March 20th, with a visit to the Boldness In Business Awards, as a guest of  Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times, and Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and Chief Executive of ArcelorMittal.  March 22nd saw the Evening Standard Diary tip Lionel for DG. Now, he doesn't featured at the bookmakers.

Meanwhile, the workers of Great Portland Street haven't entirely missed out on the fun: Egon Zehnder International entertained Mr and Mrs Nicholas Kroll (Director of the BBC Trust) at a charity dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum in December.

Collective thinking

A thorough job interview tests candidates on the key competencies required in the role. Lord Patten and Diane Coyle clearly had this in mind in their two-hour sessions with would-be DGs. Here are the requirements on "change leadership".

• Candidates will have initiated and delivered the transformation of a business or a division 
• They will have an appetite for change and know the challenges of developing existing talent and building new capabilities

This seems to have delivered a question couched, roughly, as "Why has the BBC Executive been so frightened about taking on the unions ?"   Will this googly re-appear in the final interviews ?

Busy day

It's all going on. Aung San Suu Kyi at the new Broadcasting House, Mark Thompson facing the DCMS Select Committee at the Commons - but where was Lord Patten ?

History may reveal he spent some time in a hotel in the refurbished St Pancras Station - a little far north for a Barnes man, but you have to make sacrifices to deliver a watertight DG selection procedure.  Meanwhile, those young whippersnappers at the BBC FOI department - schtum since December - decided to dump those they've been holding back...

Still going through them, but here's some odds and ends. The BBC spent £1m on "opinion and reputation surveys and tracking" in the three years from 2008 to 2011. The BBC subsidised staff catering by £2.2m in 2010/11. And here's the spend on alcoholic drinks for staff over the past five years.

The BBC spent £8.2m on "consultants" in 2010/11. (We define consultancy to mean an external company (this excludes individuals contracted via the Freelance Contracts Team), that provides expert advice with regard to corporate issues where the particular mixture of skills and expertise is not available internally or where we require independent advice.)


For all the brouhaha about cutting management, the number of staff paid more than £100k at 1st October 2011 was 305 - UP six from the same time in 2010.

The BBC currently has 77 staff who officially work from home.

The BBC spent over £21m in 2010/11 with Reed Personnel on the provision of agency staff. Remember that when they say they've reduced the headcount....

Rationale

The Daily Mail's Geiger counter of filth (now with improved internal filter) is sparking off the scale in all directions this morning.

Ofcom's Ed Richards can't be Director General of the BBC because Sky Channel 929 shows previews for the XXX Channel, and that's only one wrong digit away from 629, a channel for children called Pop Girls.

Sir Peter Bazalgette can't be chairman of The Arts Council because "Few would say he has made an entirely positive contribution to the cultural life of the nation".  Excoriating stuff.

Smouldering

As regular readers will know, I'm practically combusting with excitement over the appointment of the next Director General of the BBC.

This coming week, BBC Trustees will grill the final candidates, with a view to a public announcement of their anointed one in the week beginning 2nd July. (This timetable doesn't invalidate my predictions so far - the choice will have to be made before Wimbledon proper starts on 25th June, to allow some time for super-vetting).

We've got the panel - Lord Patten, Diane Coyle, Alison Hastings, David Liddiment, Antony Fry and Richard Ayre. Have we got the shortlist ? Media watcher Ray Snoddy tweeted last week that there were three outsiders, on top of Ed Richards, still in play.

Half-credible suggestions include Lionel Barber of the FT, known to be rated by Lord Patten; James Purnell, ex BBC, now Blair-ite in exile for Labour; and Peter Fincham, of ITV. After that, my mischievous friends spin me lines - Gary Barlow, Russell Brand, James Murdoch and Sven Goran Eriksson. Too late for further research - we need that shortlist and a licence-payers vote-line !

Snod

Type

More detailed minutes from the BBC Trust meeting at the end of March don't bode well for Ed Richards, the known DG candidate with perhaps the shortest "creative and editorial" record.

51.3 Members of the Trust discussed various elements of the draft role specification, 

including the ranking of the different competencies and experiences. Among 

other issues, members discussed the creative and editorial experience that they 

would ideally wish to see in a candidate.

Unless, of course they discussed the issue and decided it wasn't important.