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Paul Fox | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Leonard Fox (1925-10-27)27 October 1925 |
| Died | 8 April 2024(2024-04-08) (aged 98) |
| Employer(s) | BBC Yorkshire Television |
| Title | Controller ofBBC1 (1967–1973) |
Sir Paul Leonard Fox (27 October 1925 – 8 April 2024) was a British television executive, who spent much of his broadcasting career working forBBC Television, most prominently as the Controller ofBBC1 between 1967 and 1973.[1]
Paul Leonard Fox was born on 27 October 1925, in Germany toJewish parents. After the early death of his father, he came to the UK on a kindertransport in 1938.[2] He was educated inBournemouth and served in theParachute Regiment from 1943 to 1946. Fox married, in 1948, Betty Nathan, who died in 2009. They had two sons one of whom, Jeremy, produced gameshows from his company Action Time. He was also the creator ofThe Krypton Factor.
Fox began his career at the Corporation in the 1950s, writing scripts for theTelevision Newsreel programme before going on to create and edit the popular sports programmeSportsview. While editingSportsview in 1954 he hit upon the idea of creating the annualBBC Sports Personality of the Year award, a glittering ceremony that is still held every December by the corporation and seen as one of the major events inBritish sport.
By the early 1960s he had been promoted to Editor ofPanorama and later Head of Public Affairs at BBC Television and in this role was heavily involved in the news coverage of the assassination ofU.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in 1963 and the subsequent reaction to the events in the UK.
In 1967, he became the Controller ofBBC1, a post he held for six years, one of the longest tenures of any BBC Channel Controller. His achievements in the role included the launch of the enduringDad's Army and overseeing the transition of BBC1 into colour in 1969. He also commissionedThe Two Ronnies,Bruce Forsyth and theGeneration Game and theParkinson talk show in 1971. All the Moon landings ofProject Apollo occurred during his tenure, and Fox allocated generous time on his network forcoverage.
Ward Thomas brought in Fox as Head of Programmes ofYorkshire Television (YTV) in 1973,[3][4] and he went on to became managing director of Yorkshire Television between 1977 and 1988. During this period he was quite vocal in his disapproval of the ultimately unsuccessful poaching in 1985 ofDallas from the BBC by fellowITV contractorThames Television.[5] This permanently soured his relationship with Thames executiveBryan Cowgill, who had been a former colleague at the BBC.[citation needed]
Whilst at YTV, Fox was prominent in representing the managerial view in theindustrial dispute between members of theACTTtrade union and theITV companies, which blacked out the network for three months in 1979. He was chairman ofITN from 1986 to 1988 and later managing director of BBC Television (1988–91). Fox retired from the BBC at the age of 65 in 1991 and became chairman of the Racecourse Association from 1993 to 1997, chairman of DISASTERS EMERC Committee from 1996 to 1999 and a sports columnist forTheDaily Telegraph from 1991 to 2003.
Fox died of complications from a stroke on 8 April 2024, at the age of 98.[6][7]
Fox was honoured with aCBE in 1985 and wasknighted in 1991. He was awarded thehonorary degree ofDoctor of Laws (LL.D.) byLeeds University in 1984,[8] and the honorary degree ofDoctor of Letters (D.Litt.) fromBradford University in 1991, and theRoyal Television Society Gold Medal for Outstanding Services to television in 1992.
| Cultural offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of theRoyal Television Society 1986–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Media offices | ||
| Preceded by | Controller ofBBC1 1967–1973 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
