This year's Reith Lecturer is the Chairman of Lloyds Bank, Sir Oliver Franks. He is the former Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and the former Professor of Moral Philosophy at University of Glasgow. He is also an established civil servant and was the British Ambassador in Washington, DC, between 1948 and 1952. He has been described as "one of the founders of the post-war world", and he delivers his Reith series entitled 'Britain and Tide of World Affairs'.

In his first lecture, Sir Oliver considers the relationship between Britain and other countries, nine years after the Second World War. He analyses the power balance between the United States of America and Europe which lies at the heart of the global power structure. Show less