Reith asked him if he wished to take on the chief conductorship, and if so whether he would resign as director of music or occupy both posts simultaneously.

In 1950 Lord Reith ( head of the CDC ) asked van der Post to head an expedition to Bechuanaland, to see the potential of the remote Kalahari Desert for cattle ranching.

The Director General, Sir John Reith ( later Lord Reith ) said in the opening programme: " Don't expect too much in the early days ; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes, to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone.

" Landon Ronald brought Reith and Beecham together in April 1928 ; negotiations and preliminary arrangements continued for more than 18 months until it became clear that the corporation and the conductor had irreconcilable priorities for the proposed new ensemble.

After the initial concerts Reith was told by his advisers that the orchestra had played better for Boult than anyone else.

With Reith long gone from the post of director general Boult found that the top management of the BBC was less concerned for the status of its Symphony Orchestra.

In 1914, Reith left Glasgow for London, largely in pursuit of a 17-year-old schoolboy, Charlie Bowser, a fast friend.

But the lure of London proved too much for Reith and in 1922, he returned there.

Reith had no broadcasting experience when he replied to an advertisement in The Morning Post for a General Manager for an as-yet unformed British Broadcasting Company in 1922.

Reith attempted to arrange a broadcast by the opposition Labour Party but it was vetoed by the government, and he had to refuse a request to allow a representative Labour or Trade Union leader to put the case for the miners and other workers.

Reith earned a reputation for prudishness in sexual matters.

He was subsequently moved to become First Commissioner of Works which he held for the next two years, through two restructurings of the job, and was also transferred to the House of Lords by being created Baron Reith of Stonehaven.

They are being ruthless and most determined .” After the July 1934 Night of The Long Knives, in which the Nazis ruthlessly exterminated their internal dissidents, Reith wrote: “ I really admire the way Hitler has cleaned up what looked like an incipient revolt .” After Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazis in 1939 he wrote: “ Hitler continues his magnificent efficiency .” Reith also expressed admiration for Mussolini .. Reith's daughter, Marista Leishman, revealed how her father in the 1930s did everything possible to keep Winston Churchill and other anti-appeasement Conservatives off the airwaves.

McNamara was Thornton's deputy ; Miller focused on reports for senior management, Lundy on financial planning, Mills on facility and program plans, Reith on administrative budgets, and Wright, Moore and Bosworth on administrative issues.

Transport Minister John Reith, and the chairman of London Transport, Lord Ashfield, inspected Holborn station to see conditions for themselves.

When John Howard announced his cabinet reorganisation on 19 December 2000, Peter Reith was the new Minister for Defence.

It was created in 1940 for John Reith, the first Director-General of the BBC.

Michael Sandel gave the 2009 Reith Lectures on " A New Citizenship " on BBC Radio, addressing the ' prospect for a new politics of the common good '.

Some public commentators, including then-Minister for Defence Peter Reith, suggested that groups of asylum seekers arriving by boat could harbour terrorists.

Minister for Workplace Relations, Peter Reith read from a prepared brief, stating that the government fully supported Patrick in their action.

Reith rang the Archbishop to turn him down and explain that he feared if the talk went ahead, the government might take the company over.

In 1940 Reith was appointed Minister of Information in Chamberlain's government.

He was dismissed from his government post by Churchill, because, as he stated, he found Reith difficult to work with.

This claim was later repeated by other senior government ministers including Defence Minister Peter Reith and Prime Minister John Howard.

Following the election of the Howard government at the 1996 election, Reith became Minister for Workplace Relations.

Late in the election campaign Reith became embroiled in the " children overboard " controversy, in which the government made unsubstantiated claims that seafaring boat people ( possibly asylum seekers ) had thrown children overboard in a presumed ploy to secure rescue and passage to Australia.

Stonehaven was the birthplace of Robert William Thomson, inventor of the pneumatic tyre and the fountain pen, of journalists James Murdoch, and Lord Reith of Stonehaven, first Director-General of the BBC.

On the day his reign officially ended, 11 December 1936, Edward made a BBC radio broadcast from Windsor Castle ; no longer King, he was introduced by Sir John Reith as " His Royal Highness Prince Edward ".

John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, KT, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD, PC ( 20 July 1889 – 16 June 1971 ) was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom.

Born at Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Reith was the youngest, by ten years, of the seven children of the Revd Dr George Reith, a minister of the United Free Church of Scotland ( later amalgamated with Church of Scotland, and not to be confused with the Free Church of Scotland ).

Reith was educated at The Glasgow Academy then at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk.

Reith was knighted the same year.

Throughout his life Reith remained convinced that that approach was the best way to run an organisation.

Reith was invited to resign his post at the BBC in 1938 by Neville Chamberlain by being made the offer of the chairmanship of Imperial Airways.

The building was named Mercury House after the Roman messenger of the gods and was officially opened by Lord Reith in December 1955.

When he visited the BBC to record the programme, work was being undertaken, and Reith noticed with dismay the ' girlie ' pin-ups of the workmen.

His final television appearance was in a three-part documentary series entitled Lord Reith Looks Back in 1967, filmed at Glasgow University.

On 14 December 1922, John Reith was hired to become the Managing Director of the company at that address.

Davidson telephoned Reith about his idea on 7 May, saying he had spoken to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, who had said he would not stop the broadcast, but would prefer it not to happen.

In 1936 Reith directly oversaw the abdication broadcast of Edward VIII.

At the new king's order, Sir John Reith, head of the BBC, introduced the former king as " His Royal Highness, Prince Edward " when the latter broadcast from Windsor Castle on the evening of 11 December 1936.