Lord Reith, first Director-General of the BBC, who shaped and directed it for its first 15 years, died in Edinburgh earlier this month at the age of 81. John Reith began his working life as an engineer in Glasgow. He served in the First World War. He started the British Broadcasting Company as its first General Manager in 1922. He was the BBC's Director-General for 11 years. During the Second World War he was a Minister in Churchill's Government.

After the war Lord Reith went to the Colonial Development Corporation. He returned to Scotland, was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and became Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow.

In this programme compiled from three films first shown in 1967 Lord Reith, in conversation with Malcolm Muggeridge, looks back over his life and his years with the BBC.