| The men at the top in 1956 | ||||
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| Gerald Beadle (BBC) | Howard Thomas (ABC) | Val Parnell (ATV | John McMillan (ARTV) | Sidney Bernstein (Granada)) |
Home > '50s TV History > People
Prominent People in British Television
1950-59
| The men at the top in 1956 | ||||
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| Gerald Beadle (BBC) | Howard Thomas (ABC) | Val Parnell (ATV | John McMillan (ARTV) | Sidney Bernstein (Granada)) |
| Norman Collins | Head of BBC Television until 13 October 1950. Took charge of Associated Television in 1954 |
| George Barnes | BBC's Director of Television from October 1950 |
| Cecil McGivern | BBC Controller of Television Programmes until 1961 |
| Richard Dimbleby | Commentator and presenter |
| Derek Burrell-Davis | Leading OB producer - launched BBC TV in the North, returning to London in 1955. Specialised in circus OBs |
| Bill Cotton | Contract LE producer with BBC from 1956. Produced Six-Five Special, Show Band Show, and his father's Billy Cotton Band Show |
| Denis Forman | First producer to work on What The Papers Say |
| Paul Fox | Scriptwriter for Television Newsreel; devised and edited Sportsview |
| Bimbi Harris | Vision mixer and first woman to operate a TV camera at the BBC |
| Joan Kemp-Welch | One of the first woman directors in TV, former theatre director who joined Associated-Rediffusion when it started, and won many major awards for her work |
| Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine | Visual effects pioneers. Creating the effects for George Orwell's 1984 was one of their biggest challenges during the '50s |
| Bill Ward | Producer with BBC Television until 1955, then offered head of LE at ATV on Bob Hope's recommendation |
| Sir Kenneth Clark | First chairman of the ITA |
| Harry Alan Towers | Ex-Radio Normandie, Managing Director of Towers of London Ltd, one of the first independent production companies; made hundreds of film programmes for ATV |
| Howard Thomas | Managing Director of ABC Television, and one of the greatest influences on ITV |
| Roy Thomson | Canadian newspaper magnate who was first Chairman of Scottish Television - who once foolishly described having an ITV franchise as akin to 'having a licence to print money' |
| Aidan Crawley | ITN's first Editor-in-Chief who created an entirely new kind of television news. He resigned when the ITV companies tried to trim down the news operations, and joined the BBC |
| Robin Day | One of the first ITN newscasters |
| Christopher Chataway | Former champion athlete, first ITN newscaster |
| Lord Townsend | Chairman of Anglia, brought together the group and moulded one of the most respected of the ITV companies |
| Sydney Newman | Head of Drama for ABC |
| Huw Wheldon | Presenter of 'All Your Own' and Editor/Presenter of 'Monitor' also 'Portraits of Power', and 'Orson Welles' Sketchbook'. The first producer/presenter to become Managing Director of BBC Television. |
If you have any comments or further information of interest, please e-mail history@whirligig-tv.co.uk