Lord Reith, whose centenary falls this month, created the BBC and the ethos of public service broadcasting.
He became one of the most powerful moral figures of the century, but his career ended early in frustration and bitterness. In 1967, four years before his death, Lord Reith gave a wide-ranging and sometimes astonishingly frank account of his life and times to Malcom Muggeridge. In the first of two programmes he reflects on his rigorous upbringing as the son of a Glasgow minister, his experiences in the First World War and his stewardship of the BBC through the historic crises of the General Strike and the Abdication.
Producer STEPHEN PEET (Part 2 next Saturday)