Talk:John Reith, 1st Baron Reith

message: I've been working on improvements to this article, using as main sources Ian McIntyre's biography, and the two television interviews Reith gave. In particular I have rewritten the BBC section, and re-ordered some of the text in others to make it more chronological. I have tried to restrict the BBC section to events and issues which directly involved Reith (as opposed to developments which occurred whilst he was DG). Reith's autocratic approach notwithstanding, I think the temptation to cover matters better suited to articles on BBC history should be resisted. I welcome any more input.--Stevouk 11:08, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improvements 

message: On Reith and his sexuality, I take issue with the description of Reith as bi-sexual. Having researched the early history of the BBC in PhD-level depth and breadth, including reading Reith's UNEDITED diaries in the BBC Written Archive at Caversham, Berkshire, in my estimation as a properly trained historian, Reith was a homosexual. He wasn't sexually or physically attracted to the opposite sex. He says this in his diaries and I have to say, reading about his feelings there about his male lover (romantic or sexual, or both, it is not clear), I have no reason to doubt him at his word. 
I know the above argument is 7 and 8 years old, but I would suggest that anyone interested in Wikipedia and Reith's sexuality takes full notice of the above paragraph. I write this as a hetrosexual, Labour-supporting male. I hold no brief for or against Reith on the grounds of gender, social class or any other. 
I'd like to comment further on the 'Nazi Sympathies' section and the description further up the page of Reith as a "dictator" in terms of style. In the first instance, his positive comments re. Hitler have to placed in a wider context than this to have any real credibility. The comment about Czechoslovakia could easily read ironically. It's presented here as a virtual accusation of Reith being a proto-Nazi. The notion is not at all supported by the historical evidence. I'm sorry that I do not have time here to go into the details. The comment about Mussolini must also be made within the context that virtually everyone in Britain in the 1920s who had ever held a conservative or reactionary opinion about any issue was in all possibility an admirer of Mussolini or if not him personally, of some of his policies and actions. It also has to be born in mind re. the Night of the Long Knives being raised here, that we all come to Hitler in the present age with the full knowledge of the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities. In June 1934 the info that British people had about Hitler was a mere fraction of what we have now, a further point of importance. When we see the term "Nazi sympathizer" in this modern age we cannot help, consciously or unconsciously, of equating the relevant person with support for the Holocaust. 
In conclusion, the whole section on Nazi sympathy of Reith brings WIKI into disrepute. To include such stuff makes the whole Reith entry a piece of virtual juvenilia. 
For the record, I have now read or consulted around 150 books, articles and pieces of archive material on the early BBC. My PhD supervisor at DMU, Leicester is a world renowned historian. 
90.207.42.36 (talk) 17:35, 10 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: ==

message: There are statements made within this article that lack citations. The article opens by failing to identify the fact that two BBCs are being discussed and the sub-head BBC also fails to show that a company was wound-up and went out of business and that a Crown corporation formed by the Privy Council took over. If this is a biography about the man then it should include his own writings and published statements by his family that reveal his character which in public was one thing and in private something entirely different. In that respect he was very much like Ted Haggerman or Jimmy Swaggart. In short this article fails to inform and if anything it is misleading. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.128.87.235 (talk) 17:02, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  This article is a hodge-podge 

message: Leaving this section in the article makes a mockery out of Wikipedia's reliability and it forms the guts of the article - meaning that the remainder is just as bad.70.254.90.118 15:32, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: This section contains so many errors!

message: On 14 December 1922 Reith became the general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, an organisation formed by manufacturers to provide broadcasts to foster demand for wireless sets. In his own words he was:
:... confronted with problems of which I had no experience: Copyright and performing rights; Marconi patents; associations of concert artists, authors, playwrights, composers, music publishers, theatre managers, wireless manufacturers.
Reith oversaw the vesting of the company in a new organisation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), formed under royal charter and became its first Director-General from 1 January 1927 to 30 June 1938.
**This is totally incorrect! The company was wound-up and the Privy Council created the corporation under a Royal charter! This was not the work of Reith!70.254.90.118 15:32, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: The BBC

message: The first regular television broadcasts (November 1936 to September 1939) started under Reith's stewardship, but this service initially ground to a halt at the outbreak of the Second World War. When the television service resumed in 1945 it was to be very different due to the impact of the war and Reith having long since departed.
Television broadcasting in Britain started in the late 1920's. The Scotsman John Logie Baird in 1926 enlisted the aid of Selfridges, London to sell his new 'Televisor'. Demonstrations began in the store in 1928 but no regular broadcasting service was available. The BBC's official line was that the pictures were unacceptably poor (only 30 lines per screen) and that there was no likelihood of improvement. Unofficially the BBC were very interested and provided space for Baird to work from. In January 1935 the Selsdon Report commissioned by Parliament recommended that the BBC be entrusted with the development of television in Britain.
**this section is factually incorrect. First of all there were regular programs before WWII and they were published. Second this was a major battle between Baird and EMI with the help of RCA. There is no mention of EMI and the fact that while Baird had a mechanical system, EMI had an electronic system and the electronic system replaced the mechanical system. 70.254.90.118 15:40, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  BBC and television 

message: What about his legacy in broadcasting and the concept of Reithianism? Surely this deserves a mention?Malick78 10:17, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Good point. I've started a new subsection of the article headed Reithianism, with a redirect from Reithianism. You may be able to improve on it? Xn4 20:58, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Reithianism

message: Quoting the article:
"He was also appointed Lord Rector of Glasgow University from 1965 to 1968. In 1967 he finally accepted the much-cherished post of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland."
It's not clear if "he finally accepted" means that he accepted the post after being offered it a number of times, or that he was "finally" offered the post which he had wanted for a long time, or something else.  Wanderer57 (talk) 00:19, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Read the section Wartime Activities for context. --Stevouk (talk) 20:01, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why say finally? 

message: I made a number of small edits to the article to try to improvr the wording. I have tried not to change the meaning.  Wanderer57 (talk) 00:27, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Small edits 

message: coming from the german wikipedia, may i suggest to (formally) boil down the quotations in this article? it looks a bit old fashioned and too prancing, with the oversized frame and the grey background:
why not just put it this way:
:... confronted with problems of which I had no experience: Copyright and performing rights; Marconi patents; associations of concert artists, authors, playwrights, composers, music publishers, theatre managers, wireless manufacturers.
Maximilian (talk) 16:14, 26 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  quotations too shiny 

message: Article is oddly incomplete - no details on his personal life, for example. Just listened to a radio programme on Radio 4 about Reith ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nsyxq - not sure how long this programme will be available on the "listen again" function ) and the programme had all sorts of points about the interesting arrangement he had with his wife and a third person, his childhood "love", Charlie Bowser. At one juncture in the programme, during an interview, Reith even admits that although he has high ethical standards, in his own life he does not necessarily come up to these standards.
Here is a quote from the BBC page on the programme (I point out part of it in bold):
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 distain 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
Surely some of these points should be mentioned in the article? At least how many children he had, etc.?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.26.74 (talk) 21:38, 10 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article is incomplete 

message: A few more details about his service in World War I would be appropriate. Valetude (talk) 01:46, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  WW1 

message: There are images of John about on the internet so I don't see why something as unrepresentative and obscure as a caricature should be used to show his appearance?
144.32.74.71 (talk) 11:55, 8 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Using caricature as profile picture? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: When did Churchill say of him "Keep that Wuthering Height away from me" or words to that effect?Paulturtle (talk) 01:07, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wuthering Height 

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thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion