Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Sir John Birt

Sir John Birt

John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944), served as the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 1992 to 2000, having previously been deputy director-general since 1987. Sir John was awarded the life peerage in 1999, and took his seat in March 2000.

Early career

Birt was born in Liverpool and educated at St Mary's College, Liverpool and St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he studied engineering and gained a third-class degree. Between 1966 and 1971 he was a Current Affairs Producer at Granada Television after which he worked at London Weekend Television (LWT), and having created Weekend World, he was the programmes founding editor. Subsequently, Birt was head of current affairs and then controller of Features and Current Affairs. By this time, Birt had formed a long-standing animousity with Michael Grade, then a colleague. In the mid-'seventies in a sabbatical away from LWT, he produced David Frost's interviews with Richard Nixon, returning to LWT as Director of Programmes from 1982; in particular during this period he was responsible for the revival in the career of Cilla Black, a life-long friend. Birt started working for the BBC in 1987 as deputy Director General [http://www.speakers.co.uk/Retro/5355.htm].

At the BBC

Birt was a source of immediate controversy following his appointment as BBC Director General in 1992, when it was revealed he was being employed as a consultant, and therefore writing off numerous personal expenses against tax, including the secretarial services of his wife. While acceptable in the private sector most considered the role of Director General a Public Trust appointment and under political pressure Birt negotiated to become a BBC employee. In the process Birt had to give up his shares in LWT that formed part of his final salary settlement. In 1994 when LWT was brought out by Granada Television this meant that Birt lost out on several million pounds. In 1974, along with then Weekend World presenter Peter Jay, Birt had contributed three articles to The Times newspaper on television journalism. In their view, current affairs programming tended to contain a "bias against understanding": instead, they advocated the promotion of "a mission to explain." Birt held the post of Director of News and Current Affairs for a time during his spell as deputy Director General under Michael Checkland, but his influence in this field remained pervasive subsequently. In practical pursuit of this thesis broadcast journalists were required by Birt to prepare their arguments before any filming was undertaken, rather than leave this to the assembly of the programme or package in the cutting room. This was controversial, since findings were now determined a priori and thus arguably led to the reflection of a narrower viewpoint. In the view of journalist Kate Adie this went against the "obligation to report"[http://authorpages.hoddersystems.com/kateadie/extract.html] or in the view of former Panorama presenter Fred Emery to "a certain blandness" [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_n4340_v126/ai_19979351]. Birt's complex internal market reforms of the BBC resulted in sections of the BBC were charging each other for internal services and even competing against each other when tendering contract submissions. Under the "producer choice" initiative producers were now obliged to use outside resources when cheaper to do so; in-house facilities were closed as a result because of the "creative accounting" methods used. Birt was little thought of by the organisations employees, and his reforms were partially dismantled by his successor Greg Dyke. Dennis Potter, in particular, described Birt as a "croak-voiced Dalek" shortly before his death, and the allusion stuck for the rest of Birt's time at the BBC. However, it has been convincingly argued that without those reforms and Birt's relatively Conservative-friendly persona [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200211/ai_n9152342], the BBC would not have secured its charter renewal in the 1990s, and Birt was responsible for a major modernisation of much BBC programming, not least the removal of Simon Bates, Dave Lee Travis and other veteran DJs from Radio 1, which was reformed as a much more youth-oriented station (though the channel's popularity declined), and the demise of the Paul Daniels Magic Show and similar vintage variety formats on BBC1. Birt also invested heavily in Digital Broadcast resources for the BBC but this was criticised at being at the expense of the BBC's core programming with BBC grandees such as John Tusa launching attacks, claiming that you have to love an organisation in order to reform it. In 1998, BBC programmes were prevented from mentioning the private life of the cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson, shortly after Mandelson had complained about Matthew Parris' inclusion of his name as a gay senior Minister. Mandelson and Birt had known each other when both had worked for London Weekend and there was press speculation that Birt had instigated the direction, although it had been issued by Anne Sloman.

Post-BBC career

In 2001 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1483994.stm] Tony Blair appointed Birt as his personal advisor, for what was termed "Blue Skies thinking" [http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1520872,00.html]; it is thought his long standing friendship with Peter Mandelson had a role in his appointment.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3916089.stm] His role in government has been controversial, since as a special advisor, rather than a civil servant, he is not formally obliged to face questions from House of Commons Select committees. In October 2002 an uproar was created when it emerged that the government had specifically asked him not to appear in front of the transport select committee, at a time when he was in charge of long-term transport strategy. Earlier that year, a paper of Birt's had proposed a second network of motorways operated as as tolls to counter the problems of traffic congestion.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1996237.stm] In parallel, he has subsequently become a part-time consultant with McKinsey & Company, which some see as a conflict of interest with his government involvement. Since February 2004, Birt has been a member of the Board of Directors of PayPal. The Financial Times reported at the beginning of July 2005 that Birt's office roof at No10 Downing Street had fallen in. No one was injured. Returning to his earlier career on August 26, 2005, Birt delivered his second MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Partly a review of his professional life as a broadcaster, he also criticised the "tabloidisation" of intellectual concerns. More importantly, he argued that Channel Four should receive financial help, in order to preserve "public service broadcasting", which was taken as advocacy of the BBC sharing its licence fee with the Channel. He also mentioned that his long standing feud with Michael Grade had been resolved, but the speech as a whole was not admired by many figures in the industry [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1558255,00.html].

Private Life

John Birt met his first wife, then Jane Lake, an American art student at Oxford in 1963 and married her in Washington, D.C. in 1965. In April 2005 it was announced that he intended to divorce his wife and marry Ms Eithne Wallis, formerly employed at the Home Office, when he is free to do so.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1559788,00.html]

Bibliography


-
-

External links


- [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_n4289_v125/ai_18524214 New Statesman interview with John Birt, June 1996]
- [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,819910,00.html Review of John Birt's The Harder Path by Peter Bazalgette in The Observer, October 27, 2002] Birt, John Birt, John Birt, John Birt, John Birt, John

10 December

December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining in the year.

Events


- 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
- 1508 - The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
- 1520 - Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
- 1684 - Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.
- 1817 - Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
- 1836 - Emory College (now Emory University) is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Major General William T. Sherman's Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
- 1868 - The first traffic lights are installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
- 1869 - Wyoming grants women the right to vote.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
- 1901 - The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
- 1904 - The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded in Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind.
- 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs his Instrument of Abdication.
- 1941 - World War II: Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse - The Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers.
- 1941 - World War II: Battle of the Philippines - Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
- 1948 - The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
- 1953 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
- 1963 - The United States Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled by Robert McNamara.
- 1965 - The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
- 1970 - Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, "father of the Green Revolution", is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1975 - Activist Andrei Sakharov is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Yelena Bonner.
- 1978 - Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1981 - The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia.
- 1983 - Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Danuta.
- 1984 - Apartheid: Cleric and activist Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1986 - The Holocaust: Elie Wiesel is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1996 - Rwandan Genocide: Military Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.
- 2002 - The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the internet defamation case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
- 2004 - A tombstone commemorating the 35th anniversary of the death of Brazilian guerilla Carlos Marighella is inaugurated in Salvador, Bahia.
- 2004 - Anil Kumble becomes India's highest wicket-taker, surpassing Kapil Dev's total of 435.
- 2005 - Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crashes in Nigeria.

Births


- 1394 - King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)
- 1452 - Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
- 1588 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (d. 1637)
- 1750 - Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore (d. 1799)
- 1787 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)
- 1805 - Josef Skoda, Bohemian physician (d. 1881)
- 1815 - Ada Lovelace, British computer programmer (d. 1852)
- 1822 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
- 1824 - George MacDonald, British writer and preacher (d. 1905)
- 1830 - Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
- 1851 - Melvil Dewey, American librarian (d. 1931)
- 1870 - Pierre Louÿs, French author
- 1870 - Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (d. 1933)
- 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
- 1882 - Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher (d. 1945)
- 1884 - Zinaida Serebryakova, Russian-born painter (d. 1967)
- 1886 - Marco Minghetti, Italian statesman (b. 1813)
- 1891 - Nelly Sachs, German-born writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1903 - Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
- 1907 - Rumer Godden (Margaret Rumer Godden), British writer (d. 1998)
- 1907 - Lucien Laurent, French international footballer (d. 2005)
- 1908 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Hermes Pan, American choreographer and dancer (d. 1990)
- 1911 - Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Philip A. Hart, U.S. Senator (d. 1976)
- 1913 - Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1917 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
- 1920 - Reginald Rose, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1934 - Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1947 - Douglas Kenney, American humorist (d. 1980)
- 1947 - Rasul Guliyev, Azerbaijani politician and chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party.
- 1948 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
- 1951 - Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer
- 1952 - Clive Anderson, British television host
- 1952 - Susan Dey, American actress
- 1957 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
- 1960 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
- 1972 - Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and songwriter (Placebo)
- 1974 - Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
- 1980 - Alexa Rae, American actress
- 1980 - Sarah Chang, American violinist
- 1980 - Ledley King, English international footballer
- 1981 - Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
- 1985 - Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer

Deaths


- 1041 - Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
- 1198 - Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126)
- 1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
- 1603 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544)
- 1618 - Giulio Caccini, Italian composer
- 1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
- 1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer
- 1736 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)
- 1831 - Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
- 1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
- 1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
- 1911 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (b. 1817)
- 1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
- 1928 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, British architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868)
- 1936 - Bobby Abel, English test cricketer (b. 1857)
- 1936 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1941 - Colin Kelly, American pilot
- 1946 - Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
- 1946 - Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)
- 1951 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (b. 1869)
- 1953 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)
- 1967 - Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941)
- 1968 - Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
- 1968 - Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
- 1969 - Carlos Marighella, Brazilian politician
- 1978 - Ed Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)
- 1979 - Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912)
- 1982 - Freeman F. Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
- 1987 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901)
- 1990 - Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898)
- 1991 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
- 1996 - Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)
- 1999 - Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
- 1999 - Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942)
- 2000 - Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919)
- 2001 - Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Eugene J. McCarthy, United States Senator (b. 1916)
- 2005 - Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances


- Roman festivals - the tribunes of the plebeians took office on this day
- R.C. Saints - In Barcelona and elsewhere: Saint Eulalia of Mérida
- Also see December 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Sweden - Nobel Prize Ceremony, an official flag day
- Thailand - Constitution Day
- USA - Admission day of the Mississippi (20th state, 1817)
- United Nations - Human Rights Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10 BBC: On This Day] ---- December 9 - December 11 - November 10 - January 10 -- listing of all days ko:12월 10일 ms:10 Disember ja:12月10日 simple:December 10 th:10 ธันวาคม

1944

1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

World War II

January


- January 4 - The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
- January 5 - Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munk.
- January 14 - The Soviet troops start the offensive at Leningrad and Novgorod.
- January 17 - British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River.
- January 17 - Meat Rationing ends in Australia.
- January 20 - The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin. The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Rapido River.
- January 22 - Allies begin Operation Shingle, the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months.
- January 27 - The two year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
- January 29 - The Battle of Cisterna takes place.
- January 30 - United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
- January 31 - American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

February


- February 1 - United States troops land in the Marshall Islands.
- February 3 - United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
- February 7 - In Anzio, Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.
- February 14 - Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
- February 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - the monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
- February 17 - Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
- February 20 - "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
- February 20 - The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
- February 29 - The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.

March


- March - The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south China.
- March 1 - USS Tarawa and USS Kearsarge laid down.
- March 1 - Anti-fascist strike in northern Italy.
- March 2 - Train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside Salerno, Italy - 426 choke to death
- March 3 - The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov were instituted in USSR
- March 10 - In Britain the Education Act lifts the ban on women teachers marrying.
- March 12 - The Creation of the politic Committee of national liberation in Greece.
- March 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
- March 15 - The National Counsil of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.
- March 17 - The hitlerists assassinate at Rîbniţa almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-fascist Romanians.
- March 18 - German forces occupy Hungary.
- March 20 - RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade's bomber is hit over Germany and he has to bail out without a parachute from the height of over 4000 meters. Tree branches interrupt his fall and he lands safely on deep snow

May


- May 5 - Mohandas Gandhi released in India.
- May 9 - Soviet troops liberate Sevastopol.
- May 12 - Soviet troops finalize the liberation of Crimea.
- May 18 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
- May 18 - Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.

June

Soviet Union].
- June 2 - The provisional French government is established.
- June 4 - A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
- June 4 - American, English and French troops enter Rome.
- June 5 - Rome falls to the Allies. It is the first capital of an Axis nation to fall.
- June 5 - More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
- June 6 - Battle of Normandy begins - Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
- June 9 - Stalin launches an offensive against Finland with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin.
- June 10 - 642 men, women and children are killed in the Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre in France.
- June 13 - Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England.
- June 15 - Battle of Saipan: The United States invades Saipan.
- June 17 - The proclamation of the Republic of Iceland.
- June 22 - Operation Bagration: General attack by Soviet forces to clear the German forces from Belarus which resulted in the destruction of the German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII.
- June 25 - The Battle of Tali-Ihantala between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the Nordic countries.
- June 26 - American troops enter Cherbourg.

July


- July 3 - Soviet troops liberate Minsk.
- July 9 - British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
- July 10 - Soviet troops start the operations for freeing the Baltic countries.
- July 13 - Liberation of Vilnius.
- July 17 - The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
- July 17 - SS E.A.Bryan, loaded with ammunition, explodes in the Port Chicago naval base - 320 dead
- July 18 - Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
- July 20 - Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt. See Claus von Stauffenberg
- July 21 - Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
- July 21 - The creation of the Polish Committee for national liberation.
- July 25 - Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

August


- August 1 - Warsaw Uprising begins.
- August 2 - Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany.
- August 7 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
- August 12 - Allies capture Florence, Italy.
- August 12 - World's first undersea oil pipeline laid, between England and France in Operation Pluto
- August 15 - Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
- August 19 - (August 25) Victorious insurrection in Paris.
- August 23 - Ion Antonescu, prime minister of Romania, is arrested and a new government is established. Romania exits the war against Russia joining the Allies.
- August 24 - Allies enter Paris.
- August 25 - Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany.
- August 29 - Slovak National Uprising begins

September


- September 1 - In Bulgaria, the Bagrianov government resigns.
- September 2 - Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They arrive three days later.
- September 3 - Allies liberate Brussels.
- September 4 - The British 11th Armored Division liberates the city of Antwerp in Belgium.
- September 4 - Finland breaks off relations with Germany.
- September 5 - The Soviets declare war on Bulgaria.
- September 7 - The Belgian government returns from exile in Britain.
- September 8 - London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
- September 8 - The French town of Menton is liberated from Germany.
- September 9 - Insurrection in Sofia.
- September 11 - Northern and southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.
- September 17 - Operation Market Garden begins.
- September 19 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the Continuation War)
- September 24 - The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Epinal before crossing the Moselle River and entering the western foothills of the Vosges.
- September 26 - Operation Market Garden ends in an Allied withdrawal.

October


- October 2 - Warsaw Uprising ends.
- October 5 - Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
- October 9 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
- October 12 - The Allies land at Athens.
- October 13 - Riga, the capital of Latvia is liberated by the Red Army.
- October 14 - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
- October 18 - Volkssturm founded on Hitler's orders.
- October 20 - Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.
- October 20 - LNG explosion destroys a square mile (2.6 km²) of Cleveland, Ohio
- October 21 - Aachen is the first German city to fall.
- October 23 - Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins (lasts until October 26).
- October 25 - Florence Foster Jenkins recital in the Carnegie Hall
- October 25 - Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated from German occupation.
- October 31 - Mass murderer Marcel Petiot is apprehended in Paris metro station

November-December


- November 6 - Two Lehi assassins kill Lord Moyne in Cairo
- November 12 - East Turkestan Republic declared
- November 12 - The Royal Air Force carries out one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of the war, sinking the German battleship Tirpitz off the coast of Norway.
- November 19 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling US$14 billion in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.
- November 24 - Bombing of Tokyo - The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital of Tokyo from the east and by land was made by 88 American aircraft.
- November 25 - A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's store in Deptford, killing 160 shoppers.
- November 26 - Gas chambers at Auschwitz and Stutthof are destroyed.
- November 29 - Albania is liberated from German occupation.
- December 16 - Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later to become known as Battle of the Bulge.
- December 16 - General George C. Marshall becomes the first Five-Star General
- December 17 - German troops carry out the Malmédy massacre.
- December 24 - The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles.
- December 26 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
- December 31 - Hungary declares war on Germany

Other events

January-July


- January 5 - The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
- February 26 - - Shooting begins of the Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuehrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in Theresienstadt.
- March 1 - USS Tarawa laid down
- March 4 - In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing.
- March 24 - In the Polish village of Markowa, German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their six children and eight Jewish people they were hiding.
- April 25 - The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
- May 30 - Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi of Monaco, heir to the throne resigns from her rights in favor of her son Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, later reigning Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
- June 17 - Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.
- July 1 - Start of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
- July 6 - A fire broke out during a performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford, Connecticut, resulting in the deaths of 168 people, most of them children. See Hartford Circus Fire
- July 17 - Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California killing 232.
- July 22 - End of Bretton Woods conference and signing of Agreements.

August-November


- August 4 - Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
- August 5 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
- August 7 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
- August 9 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
- September 2 - Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They arrive three days later.
- October 2 - Holocaust: Nazi troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
- October 8 - The radio show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet debuts.
- October 10 - Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at Auschwitz death camp
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey to become the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
- November 22 - William Lyon Mackenzie King introduces conscription in Canada (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).

December


- December 3 - Civil war breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between Communists and royalists.
- December 1 - Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, by filling the seat left by the Cordell Hull.
- December 26 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
- December 30 - King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.

Unknown dates


- In Sweden, the law of 1864 that criminalizes homosexuality is abolished.
- Swedish author of children's books Astrid Lindgren publishes her first book Pippi Longstocking.
- In Sweden, Erik Wallenberg and Ruben Rausing invent a way to package milk in paper and start the company Tetra Pak.
- Barbados General election - Grantley Adams, black lawyer, first majority party leader in the House of Assembly, as leader of Barbados Labour Party
- Hans Asperger publishes his paper on Asperger's Syndrome
- The Mad Gasser of Mattoon carries out a series of mysterious attacks in Mattoon, Illinois.
- National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence established.

Ongoing events


- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- Second World War (1939-1945)

Births

For more 1944 births see :Category:1944 births

January


- January 2 - Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- January 6 - Bonnie Franklin, American actress
- January 6 - Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 9 - Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin)
- January 12 - Joe Frazier, American boxer
- January 17 - Françoise Hardy, French singer
- January 18 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
- January 23 - Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
- January 24 - Neil Diamond, American singer
- January 26 - Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
- January 27 - Mairead Corrigan, Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- January 27 - Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)

February


- February 3 - Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)
- February 5 - Al Kooper, American musician (Blood, Sweat, and Tears)
- February 5 - Michael Mann, American film, director, writer, producer
- February 9 - Alice Walker, American writer
- February 10 - Vernor Vinge, American writer
- February 11 - Michael G. Oxley, American politician
- February 13 - Stockard Channing, American actress
- February 13 - Jerry Springer, English-born television host
- February 14 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist
- February 14 - Alan Parker, English-born film director, actor, and writer
- February 16 - Richard Ford, American writer
- February 17 - Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer
- February 20 - Willem van Hanegem, Dutch football player and coach
- February 22 - Jonathan Demme, American film director, producer, and writer
- February 22 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
- February 23 - Johnny Winter, American musician
- February 24 - Nicky Hopkins, British musician (d. 1994)
- February 28 - Sepp Maier, German footballer

March


- March 1 - John Breaux, U.S. Senator from Louisiana
- March 1 - Roger Daltrey, English musician (The Who)
- March 2 - Uschi Glas, German actress
- March 6 - Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano
- March 11 - Don MacLean, British comedian
- March 15 - Sly Stone, American singer
- March 17 - John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter (The Lovin' Spoonful)
- March 19 - Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
- March 19 - Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian assassin of Robert F. Kennedy
- March 24 - R. Lee Ermey, U.S. Marine and actor
- March 26 - Diana Ross, American singer
- March 28 - Rick Barry, American basketball player
- March 29 - Denny McLain, baseball player

April


- April 3 - Tony Orlando, American musician
- April 4 - Craig T. Nelson, American actor
- April 6 - Felicity Palmer, English soprano
- April 7 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
- April 8 - Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian painter
- April 11 - John Milius, American film director, producer, and screenwriter
- April 19 - James Heckman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 22 - Steve Fossett, American millionaire adventurer
- April 28 - Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician
- April 29 - Richard Kline, American actor and television director
- April 30 - Jill Clayburgh, American actress

May


- May 1 - Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
- May 5 - John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor
- May 8 - Gary Glitter, English singer
- May 9 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco and Buffalo Springfield)
- May 10 - Jim Abrahams, American film director
- May 13 - Armistead Maupin, American author
- May 12 - Sara Kestelman, British actor
- May 14 - George Lucas, American film director and producer
- May 20 - Joe Cocker, British singer
- May 20 - Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
- May 20 - Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
- May 21 - Mary Robinson, President of Ireland
- May 25 - Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director
- May 28 - Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City
- May 28 - Gladys Knight, American singer
- May 30 - Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000)

June-October


- June 3 - Edith McGuire, American sprinter
- June 5 - Tommie Smith, American athlete
- June 6 - Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 8 - Mark Belanger, baseball player (d. 1998)
- June 24 - Jeff Beck, British musician
- June 29 - Gary Busey, American actor
- June 30 - Raymond Moody, parapsychologist
- July 13 - Ernő Rubik, Hungarian inventor
- July 17 - Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricket captains
- July 21 - Tony Scott, English film director
- July 21 - Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 2002)
- July 27 - Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor, and musician (d. 2003)
- July 31 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
- July 31 - Robert Carhart Merton, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 2 - Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
- August 4 - Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- August 8 - Brooke Bundy, American actress
- August 9 - Sam Elliott, American actor
- August 11 - Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
- August 21 - Peter Weir, Australian film director
- August 23 - Saira Banu, Indian actress
- August 26- Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
- September 1 - Leonard Slatkin, American conductor
- September 2 - Al Matthews, American actor (d. 2002)
- September 7 - Earl Manigault, American basketball player (d. 1998)
- September 7 - Bora Milutinovic, Serbian football coach
- September 12 - Leonard Peltier, U.S. Presidential candidate
- September 12 - Barry White, American singer (d. 2003)
- September 21 - Hamilton Jordan, Carter's 1ST Chief of Staff
- September 22 - Frazer Hines, British actor
- September 25 - Michael Douglas, American actor
- September 26 - Anne Robinson, British television host
- October 9 - John Entwistle, English bassist (The Who) (d. 2002)
- October 9 - Nona Hendryx, singer (LaBelle)
- October 9 - Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1987)
- October 15 - David Trimble, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- October 28 - Dennis Franz, American actor
- October 28 - Ian Marter, British actor (d. 1986)

November-December


- November 1 - Rafik Bahaa Edine Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister 1992 - 1998 (d. 2005).
- November 9 - Melvin Maskin, American teacher
- November 10 - Silvestre Reyes, American politician
- November 12 - Booker T. Jones, American musician, singer, and songwriter (Booker T. and the M.G.'s)
- November 12 - Al Michaels, American sportscaster
- November 17 - Danny DeVito, American actor
- November 17 - Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect
- November 17 - Lorne Michaels, American film producer
- November 17 - Tom Seaver, baseball player
- November 21 - Dick Durbin, American politician
- November 25 - Ben Stein, American law professor, actor, and author
- December 7 - Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
- December 17 - Jack L. Chalker, American novelist (d. 2005)
- December 21 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
- December 22 - Steve Carlton, baseball player
- December 23 - Wesley Clark, U.S. general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander
- December 25 - Jairzinho, Brazilian football player
- December 28 - Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths

For more 1944 deaths see :Category:1944 deaths

January-May


- January 1 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
- January 11 - Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (b. 1903)
- January 20 - James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b. 1860)
- January 31 - Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
- January 31 - William Allen White, American journalist (b. 1868)
- February 1 - Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
- February 4 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)
- February 11 - Carl Meinhof, German linguist (b. 1857)
- February 21 - Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
- February 23 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
- March 5 - Max Jacob, French poet (b. 1876)
- March 22 - Pierre Brossolette, journalist and French Resistance fighter (b. 1903)
- March

British Broadcasting Corporation

 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom (see British television). It produces programmes and information services, broadcasting on television, radio, and the Internet. It is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. The BBC's main domestic services on television include BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, the news channel BBC News 24, and the children's channels CBBC and CBeebies. BBC One and BBC Two are available via conventional analogue transmission — the remainder can be viewed only by those with digital reception equipment. The BBC also operates the UK's only dedicated politics channel, BBC Parliament, covering events in the British Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, and European Parliament, as well as highlights of overseas legislatures such as the US Congress. National radio services include Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, and Radio 4, and BBC Radio Five Live. Digital radio services include 1Xtra, BBC 6 Music, BBC 7, BBC Five Live Sports Extra, and the BBC Asian Network. There is also a huge catalogue of BBC Local Radio stations (such as BBC Hereford and Worcester), Open Centres, BBC Buses, and BBC Big Screens. In addition the BBC operates the BBC World Service on radio, funded by and operated in cooperation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The BBC's commercial operations are run by BBC Worldwide. These include its international television services which are funded commercially and include the international news channel BBC World, as well as entertainment channels BBC Prime, BBC America, BBC Canada and BBC Japan. There is also a Canadian children's channel BBC Kids. BBC Worldwide also co-runs, with Flextech, the UKTV network of stations in the UK, producers of amongst others UKTV Gold. In Australia and New Zealand, BBC Worldwide runs the UK.TV network jointly with Foxtel and Fremantle Media. The BBC produces a large body of programming for domestic and worldwide broadcast. Many programmes (especially documentaries) are sold to foreign television stations, and comedy, documentaries and historical drama productions are popular on the international DVD market. It is an autonomous corporation run by a board of governors appointed by the government for a term of four years (formerly five years). This is soon to be changed to a BBC trust. Management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General appointed by the governors. Its domestic programming and broadcasts are funded by levying television licence fees upon the owners of television sets.

History

television licence broadcast]] The British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1922 by various private firms, to broadcast experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November. The BBC, with John Reith as general manager, took on its current form in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter of incorporation. It started experimental television broadcasting in 1932, becoming a regular service (known as the BBC Television Service) in 1936. Television broadcasting was suspended from September 1, 1939 to June 7, 1946 during the Second World War. Competition to the BBC was introduced for the first time in 1955 with the commercially and independently operated ITV. The BBC introduced a second TV channel, (BBC 2), in 1964, renaming the existing channel BBC 1. BBC 2 was broadcast in colour from July 1, 1967, and was joined by BBC 1 and ITV on November 15, 1969. Since the deregulation of the UK television and radio market in the 1980s, the BBC has faced increased competition from the commercial sector (and from the advertiser-funded public service broadcaster Channel 4), especially on satellite television, cable television, and digital television services. The BBC Research Department has played a major part in the development of broadcasting and recording techniques. In the early days it carried out essential research into acoustics, programme level measurement, and noise measurement and established standards that rapidly spread, particularly throughout the British Empire. In this respect it filled a role that is now lacking in many areas, since it was motivated by the desire for quality, not profit.

The Corporation

Funding

The principal means of funding the BBC is through the television licence. Such a licence is required to operate a broadcast television receiver within the UK. The television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law but is collected privately and does not pass through the state before reaching the BBC, and hence it is inaccurate to refer to the BBC as a "state" broadcaster. A similar licence used to exist for radios, but was abolished in 1971. These licences were originally issued by the British General Post Office (GPO), which was then the regulator of public communications within the UK. For a more detailed historical explanation see British Broadcasting Company. In the case of the elderly (over 75), TV licences are funded by the government. Subsidised TV licences are available for the blind and the residents of residential care homes. Licence fees are set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (a Cabinet Minister). Collecting them has been the responsibility of [http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/ TV Licensing] (an autonomous arm of the BBC) since 1990, but much of the collection work is subcontracted to the independent companies Capita and AMV. The television licence is often the subject of controversy; a number of people — including the Sunday Times journalist Jonathan Miller — argue that the licence is a regressive tax, in that the very poorest are those least likely to have a licence, and least able to pay the fine for not having a licence. However, supporters of the licence fee claim that it helps maintain a higher quality of programming on the BBC compared to its commercial rivals. Some also claim that it also leads to better programmes on the commercial channels as they seek to draw viewers/listeners away from the BBC's output. Because government regulation controls its funding, the BBC is able to provide domestic public service broadcasting to educate, inform and entertain, free of commercial advertising. However, the BBC does engage in commercial advertising in its publications and some broadcasting activities. In theory the BBC is answerable only to the licence payer. World Service external broadcasting is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The BBC has the largest budget of any UK broadcaster. Income from commercial enterprises and from overseas sales of its catalogue of programmes has substantially increased over recent years. Its annual budget is approximately £3.7 billion.

Revenue sources

The [http://www.bbcgovernors.co.uk/annreport/report05_keysections_dl.html#section6 2005 Annual report] gave revenue sources in millions of:
- £2,940.3m licence fees collected from consumers.
- £624.3m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
- £247.2m from the World Service, of which £225.1m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £16.7m from subscriptions, and £5.4m from other sources.
- £23.5m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters and concert ticket sales. In total, the BBC's group income is estimated at £3835.3m for 2005.

Licence fee expenditure

The BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4309325.stm gives] the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income:
- 50% - BBC One and BBC Two
- 15% - local TV and radio
- 12% - network radio
- 10% - digital (BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies)
- 10% - transmission costs and licence fee collection
- 3% - BBC Online, Ceefax, and Interactive Content (including bbc.co.uk and BBCi)

Management

The BBC is a nominally autonomous corporation, independent from direct government intervention. It is run by an appointed Board of Governors. General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General appointed by the governors. The governors at 19 January 2005 are:
- Michael Grade (Chairman)
- Anthony Salz (Vice Chairman)
- Professor Ranjit Sondhi (National Governor for the English regions)
- Professor Fabian Monds (National Governor for Northern Ireland)
- Professor Merfyn Jones (National Governor for Wales)
- Jeremy Peat (National Governor for Scotland)
- Deborah Bull
- Dame Ruth Deech
- Dermot Gleeson
- Angela Sarkis
- Richard Tait, appointed for a four-year term on 1 August 2004. The current Director-General is Mark Thompson. On his first day in the role he announced a shake-up of senior management, including the replacement of the Executive Committee, formed by directors of divisions within the BBC, with a streamlined nine-member Executive Board currently consisting of:
- Mark Thompson (Director-General)
- Mark Byford (Deputy Director-General)
- John Smith (Chief Operating Officer)
- Zarin Patel (Group Finance Director)
- Caroline Thomson (Strategy)
- Stephen Dando (BBC People)
- Tim Davie (Marketing, Communications & Audiences)
- Jana Bennett (Television)
- Jenny Abramsky (Radio and Music)
- Ashley Highfield (New Media and Technology)

Current review of Royal Charter

The BBC's Royal Charter is currently under review. Although the Charter is widely expected to be renewed in 2006, some proposals have suggested dramatic changes. On 2 March 2005 the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell published a green paper setting out her proposals for the future of the BBC. The main points of this are:
- Maintenance of the licence fee system until at least 2016
- Abolition of the BBC Governors, to be replaced by a "BBC Trust"
- Increasing outsourcing of production (a process already started by Mark Thompson)
- Reduced emphasis on "ratings for ratings' sake" and copycat programmes (such as reality television).

Political and commercial independence

The BBC motto is Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation and many have claimed that it is the most respected broadcaster in the world. The BBC is,