Greg Dyke Explained

Greg Dyke
Office:13th Director-General of the BBC
Term Start:2000
Term End:2004
Predecessor:John Birt
Successor:Mark Byford (acting)
Office1:Chancellor of the University of York
Term Start1:2004
Term End1:2015
Predecessor1:Janet Baker
Successor1:Malcolm Grant
Office2:Chairman of Brentford Football Club
Term Start2:2006
Term End2:2013
Office3:Chairman of the British Film Institute
Term Start3:2008
Term End3:2016
Predecessor3:Anthony Minghella
Successor3:Josh Berger
Office4:Chairman of the Football Association
Term Start4:2013
Term End4:2016
Predecessor4:David Bernstein
Successor4:Greg Clarke
Office5:Vice President for Television of BAFTA
Term Start5:2016
Predecessor5:Sophie Turner Laing
Office6:Chairman of the London Film School
Term Start6:2018
Predecessor6:Mike Leigh
Occupation:Journalist, broadcaster, Executive director
Birth Name:Gregory Dyke
Birth Date:20 May 1947
Birth Place:Hayes, Middlesex, England
Alma Mater:University of York
Spouse:Susan Howes
Children:4

Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am. In the 1990s, he held chief executive positions at LWT Group, Pearson Television, and Channel 5.

Dyke was director-general of the BBC from January 2000 to January 2004; he resigned following heavy criticism of the BBC's news reporting process in the Hutton Inquiry. He was also a director of Manchester United and chairman of Brentford football clubs, and from 2013 to 2016 was chairman of the Football Association. He was chancellor of the University of York from 2004 to 2015 and chairman of the British Film Institute between 2008 and 2016. He is currently the chairman of children's television company HiT Entertainment, and is a panellist on Sky News's The Pledge.

Since 2016, Dyke has been vice president for television of BAFTA.[1] In 2018, he became chairman of London Film School.[2]

Early life and education

Dyke was born in 1947, in Hayes, Middlesex, the youngest of three sons in a "stable, lower middle class"[3] family. His father was an insurance salesman.[4] The family lived at 17 Cerne Close until he was 9,[3] then moved to Cedars Drive, Hillingdon.[5] He was educated at Yeading Primary School and then Hayes Grammar School, which he left with one grade "E" at A-level mathematics.[6] [7] After school he was briefly a trainee manager at Marks & Spencer before leaving to work as a trainee reporter for the Hillingdon Mirror, becoming chief reporter in eight months.[8] He left the Mirror after attempting to stage a union-backed protest against poor pay conditions by the junior staff of the work on the paper. He then got a job at the Slough Evening Mail. Amongst his colleagues was future music journalist Colin Irwin.

Dyke then went on to study for a degree at the University of York as a mature student, graduating in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in politics. During his time at York, Dyke was active in student politics, and was part of a collective that produced a psychedelic underground student magazine called Nouse. He also met and married his first wife, Christine Taylor, whilst at the university.[9] His contemporaries and friends at York included future journalists Linda Grant and Peter Hitchens, the latter then active in the International Socialists. Dyke was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 1999 and was chancellor from 2004 to 2015.[10]

Career

Break into television: LWT and TV-AM

After university, Dyke followed his first wife to Newcastle. He had become disillusioned with newspaper journalism, and tried for a job as a junior reporter at BBC Radio Teesside. He was unsuccessful, apparently because the interviewers felt no-one would understand his accent. Dyke instead found work covering rural affairs for the Newcastle Journal. He moved back to London with Christine in 1974 to become campaign officer for the Wandsworth Community Relations Council. He hated the job and left to campaign to be elected GLC Councillor for Putney. Again he was unsuccessful.[11]

Dyke was given assistance getting a job at London Weekend Television (LWT) by fellow ex-Newcastle journalist Nicholas Evans, who was at the time working on Weekend World. Dyke got a junior position on LWT's local politics programme, in the current affairs department. His bosses there were John Birt and Peter Jay. He attracted attention for trying to give the programmes he worked on a more populist edge. This led to him being given the chance to launch a new early evening current affairs topical news programme. This became The Six O'Clock Show, fronted by Michael Aspel, with co-hosts Danny Baker and Janet Street-Porter. The show is seen by many as the first example of British tabloid TV.[11]

After the success of The Six O' Clock Show, Dyke was brought in by Jonathan Aitken to become programme director at ailing station TV-am in April 1983.[12] [13] The station was doing very badly in the ratings compared to the BBC's popular Breakfast Time magazine style programme. He was instrumental in reviving the breakfast show's fortunes by introducing a new schedule based around popular features including bingo, celebrity gossip and horoscopes.

Dyke left TV-am, in May 1984 after Bruce Gyngell was brought in to enhance and improve the company to allow it to be financially viable.[14] Ten days later, Michael Moor, the TV-am general manager, also left the station.[15] In August 1984, Dyke became director of programmes at TVS.[16] [17]

In April 1987, Dyke moved from TVS to LWT[18] again to be director of programmes, replacing John Birt, having originally worked at LWT in 1978. At the same time, he helped LWT re-sectioning the company in a bid to cut costs and overhaul the working practices within the company ahead of a new franchise period, which it won. Dyke was responsible for cancelling ITV's coverage of professional wrestling in 1988.[19] In 1992 he was appointed the chairman of the ITV Council, and LWT chief executive. In February 1993 he was appointed chairman of the GMTV board and tasked with overhauling the station format, which included "more popular journalism". His role was primarily to bring new and imaginative ideas to the station without taking on full day-to-day running.[20] In 1994, he made a fortune when Granada bought out LWT.

Pearson and Channel 5

Dyke became chairman and chief executive of Pearson Television in January 1995, and began expanding the company. His first acquisition was Grundy Television[21] [22] which helped build Pearson into the biggest non-US independent production company in the world.[23]

At the end of October 1995 a consortium guided by Dyke was awarded the licence for Channel 5,[24] and he became the first chairman of the new channel.[25] He was appointed chairman of Channel 5 on 21 February 1997. Also in 1997 he was asked to review the Patients' Charter of the National Health Service.

At the BBC

In 2000, Dyke took over from John Birt as director-general of the BBC. He was appointed despite Conservative protests that he had donated £50,000 to the Labour Party and was a 'crony'.[26] At the beginning of his tenure, he famously promised to "cut the crap" at the corporation. The "crap" he referred to was the complex internal market Birt had introduced at the BBC which, it was argued, turned employees away from making programmes and into managers. Dyke reversed this trend – he reduced administration costs from 24% of total income to 15%. Unusually for a recent director-general, he had a good rapport with his employees and was popular with the majority of BBC staff, his management style being seen as more open and risk-taking than Birt's.

Jonathan Gifford, who worked for BBC Magazines in BBC Worldwide during the management of Birt and Dyke, observed "Dyke came across well. He was direct, sensible and approachable. His vision for the BBC was inspirational."[27] Martin Montague, a producer on digital radio station BBC7 said "I know that people in local radio think he walks on water because of all that he's put into that."[28]

Apart from restoring staff morale, Dyke laid claim to two major achievements during his office. In 2002, he introduced the Freeview terrestrial digital transmission platform with six additional BBC channels, and persuaded Sky TV to join the consortium. Previously this was an ITV subscription service that had closed with major losses, but by mid-2007 it could be seen by more than half the population.[29] After leaving the BBC, he said that he always realised that the introduction of Freeview helped to prevent a subscription funding model for the BBC gain traction, because it is impossible for broadcasters to switch off the signal to individual Freeview boxes.

Dyke controversially described the corporation in early 2001 as "hideously white",[30] based on statistics that showed the organisation's management structure was 98% white. Dyke said that "The figures we have at the moment suggest that quite a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds that we do attract to the BBC leave. Maybe they don't feel at home, maybe they don't feel welcome." Dyke set a target that by 2003, 10% of the BBC's UK workforce and 4% of management would be from ethnic minority backgrounds. In September 2004, Dyke received an award for his remarks from Glasgow-based organisation Empower Scotland, which fights against workplace racism.[31]

Dyke attracted criticism when he "forgot" to sell an equity stake in Granada Television, which presented a conflict of interest in his new position. He also caused controversy when he lost the rights to Premier League football to ITV, then accused the league of fixing the auction. Others were worried that the openness and high risk strategies of his management style could backfire on the corporation. An ITV executive was quoted as saying, "By being too radical and playing fast and loose with the public service remit, the BBC is inviting external regulation – and it deserves it."[32]

In 2009, Dyke said the BBC was part of a "Westminster conspiracy" preventing the "radical changes" needed to UK democracy and that the separation between the "political class", including the BBC, and the public had never been greater. He said he had tried to raise the problem during his time in charge of the BBC but discussion had been blocked by a combination of the "politicos on the board of governors" of the BBC, the Labour cabinet and the political journalists at the BBC. He believed that these groups resist change as it is not in their interests.[33]

Hutton Report and resignation from BBC

See main article: Hutton Enquiry.

Dyke resigned from the BBC on 29 January 2004 along with Gavyn Davies and Andrew Gilligan, after the publication of the Hutton Report into the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly. Hutton described Dyke's approach to checking news stories as "defective"; when Alastair Campbell complained about the story, Dyke had immediately defended it without investigating whether there was any merit to the complaint.

In an email sent to all BBC staff just prior to his resignation Dyke wrote:

It was subsequently established that Dyke had offered his resignation to the BBC's Board of Governors while hoping that they would reject it. However, he was only able to secure the support of about one-third of the governors.

Some BBC staff felt that too much blame had been placed on their organisation in the wake of the David Kelly affair in the Hutton Report, and that the government was interfering in the BBC.[28] Tim Gospill, spokesman for the National Union of Journalists said "Being independent doesn't just mean not having the government telling you what to do. It means you can criticise the government as well. I'm not at all sure the government understands that." Groups of staff staged walk outs from Broadcasting House and other BBC offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff and Derry, in protest at Dyke's resignation.[34] In addition, on 31 January 2004, BBC staff paid for a full-page advert in The Daily Telegraph to express their "dismay" over Dyke's departure.[35] The fundraisers hoped to raise £10,000, a lot less than the market rate for a full page advert in a broadsheet newspaper. Reportedly they raised less than this amount, but were offered a deal by the Telegraphs advertising department which allowed the advert to be printed. It was signed by around 4,000 BBC employees; 10,000 (around a third of total BBC staff at the time) submitted their names for publication, but there was not sufficient space to include them all.

The statement in the advertisement read:

Speaking on GMTV on 30 January, Dyke himself questioned the conclusions of the report, saying "We were shocked it was so black and white [...] We knew mistakes had been made but we didn't believe they were only by us." He also said Lord Hutton was "quite clearly wrong" on certain aspects of law relating to the case.

On 11 January 2007, the BBC published minutes of its post-Hutton board meetings. It was revealed that Dyke had said he had been "mistreated and wanted to be reinstated".[36]

After the Hutton Inquiry

On 28 November 2003, Dyke was formally appointed by the University of York as its new chancellor, replacing Dame Janet Baker, who had served in the post since November 1991. There was some controversy regarding his appointment in the midst of the Iraq Dossier scandal. He officially took the post in August 2004. In this role, he is the honorary and ceremonial head of the university, as well as heading the University Development Board. He has also made a personal grant to the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television, to found the Greg Dyke Chair in Film and Television. On 6 February 2004, Dyke announced that he had signed a six-figure book contract with HarperCollins. The book, Inside Story, subsequently published in September 2004, goes into detail about Dyke's opinion on the relationship between the BBC and the British government, and of the Dr. David Kelly affair and Hutton Inquiry. In July 2004, Dyke was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Sunderland, Middlesex University and in 2006 from The University of Bedfordshire. He was appointed chair of the British Film Institute on 15 February 2008, succeeding Anthony Minghella. On 10 March 2010, it was reported that he had been approached by Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny Lebedev to edit The Independent and The Independent on Sunday newspapers.[37]

In the wake of the News of the World hacking affair, Dyke frequently appeared in the media to comment on events. In April 2011, he said "I don't think the News of the World is a great contribution to British journalism. [...] They had obviously being playing fast and loose for a long time and are now getting their just deserts."[38]

Football administration

Dyke has been a director of both Manchester United and Brentford football clubs, and was chairman of the FA from 2013 to 2016. He has said that he supported both clubs since he was a child, although his older brothers supported Tottenham.[39] He became a fan of Brentford when his brother played for the club as a junior. Manager Bill Dodgin Sr. tried to sign his brother, but their father would not agree to him committing to what he saw as a badly paid and insecure career.[40]

From 1997 to 1999, Dyke served as a non-executive director of Manchester United, and was the sole board member to oppose a takeover bid from BSkyB, which was subsequently rejected by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.[41] When he became director-general of the BBC he admitted a "potential conflict of interest" between his new post and his non-executive directorship at Manchester United plc.[42] He resigned his position to avoid controversy. In a speech at the Manchester Evening News Business of the Year Awards, he said "it was seen as a conflict of interest to both buy and sell football rights. My kids have never forgiven me for joining the BBC because of that."[39]

Dyke was the non-executive chairman of Brentford from 20 January 2006 until July 2013.[43] He was appointed as part of the club takeover by Bees United, the Brentford Supporters Trust.[44]

At Brentford, Dyke's focus was on budget constraints for the small club and the necessity to generate money from televised matches and other means.[45] [46] Under Dyke the club's performance was initially unsteady, with a few highlights but the club experiencing its worst run since the 1970s. On 28 January 2006, they beat Premier League strugglers Sunderland 2–1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup, but lost 3–1 to another Premier League club Charlton Athletic (of which former BBC chairman Michael Grade was non-executive director) in the fifth round.

The club finished third in the league that year and lost to Swansea City in the play-off semi-final. These initial slight successes preceded a spell of misfortune which saw Brentford lose 16 matches in a row and be relegated to Football League Two in 2007. Turnover of managers was fast, with Allen, Leroy Rosenior,[47] Scott Fitzgerald, Alan Reeves, Barry Quin[48] and Terry Butcher[49] in the space of two years, before Butcher's assistant Andy Scott got the team back on track, winning the League Two title on 25 April 2009.[50] Scott could not continue the success and after a series of poor results he was sacked in February 2011. Dyke remained upbeat:

Dyke announced plans in 2010 for the club to move to a new ground, selling off the Griffin Park ground for residential housing to raise money. Dyke said: "Our aim is to move into a new stadium in Lionel Road and to move there as a club free of debt."[51]

Dyke replaced David Bernstein as chairman of The Football Association in July 2013 after relinquishing his role as Brentford chairman and receiving approval from the FA council.[52] [53] In September, Dyke warned of an "alarming" lack of homegrown talent in English football, with fewer and fewer homegrown players in the top flight, and set England the target of at least reaching the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2020 and then winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[54]

After Sepp Blatter's sudden departure from FIFA on 2 June 2015, when Blatter said he was resigning for honorable reasons and to allow FIFA to move on, Dyke said, "I don't believe a word of this. If he believes that, why not step down last week when we asked him to? He was cock-a-hoop when he won the election and terribly arrogant. Clearly there is a smoking gun. This is nothing to do with Mr Blatter being honorable; he hasn't been honorable for years".[55]

Dyke left the FA in 2016, deciding not to stand for re-election, as he struggled to reform the organisation. He was succeeded as chairman by Greg Clarke.

Comments on News of the World phone hacking scandal

Dyke appeared on BBC Two's Newsnight programme on 8 July 2011 alongside comedian Steve Coogan, where he confronted former News of the World deputy features editor Paul McMullen over his attitude to the events of the phone hacking scandal. Dyke told McMullen "You're [the tabloids] nothing to do with a free press, or a decent democracy". Distancing himself from McMullen he said "I've spent most of my life being a journalist, and I'm nothing to do with him, and neither are most other journalists."[56] He continued "You could see there are occasionally, very occasionally, public interest cases but most of the time [it wouldn't make it less morally reprehensible]. These guys [tabloid journalists] just tapped anyone they could think of". He was also of the opinion that stronger independent regulation of the press was needed, saying that broadcast media had always been more strictly regulated.

On 11 July 2011, Dyke wrote in the Financial Times that "from the moment it was revealed that the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler's phone, Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the 60.9% of British Sky Broadcasting that News Corp does not already own was all but over".[57] He said, "for those of us who have been warning about the tactics used by the Murdoch operation for many years – Mr Murdoch once described me as 'an enemy' – the events of the past week have been sweet."

Political views

In his early years, Dyke was an active supporter of the Labour Party. In 1977, he attempted to win a seat on the Greater London Council (GLC) for Labour at Putney. Until 1999, he was considered "very much part of Tony Blair's New England", attending parties to celebrate Labour's 1997 election victory. He donated £55,000 to the party, which prompted controversy over his subsequent appointment as BBC director-general during the Blair government.[58] He was also asked to write a report on the future of the NHS.[3]

On 2 May 2005, prior to the general election, Dyke went public at a Liberal Democrats press conference and said that "democracy was under threat if Labour was elected for a third term".[59]

On 20 April 2009, it was announced that Dyke was to lead a review of the UK's creative sector for the Conservative Party.[60]

Personal life

Dyke has been married twice. He met his first wife Christine Taylor at the University of York; they were married for most of the 1970s. He lives in Hampshire, near Stockbridge, with his second wife, Susan Howes, a former sociology teacher and probation officer. Susan is now a trustee of Safe Ground, a charity which works with young offenders.[61] They have four children. The Dykes also own a house on the west coast of County Cork, Ireland.[62]

Honours

Scholastic

University degrees
Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
LocationDateSchoolPosition
20042015 Chancellor[63]
April 2018Present Chairman [64] [65]

Honorary degrees

Honorary degrees
LocationDateSchoolDegreeGave Commencement Address
1999 Doctor of the University (D.Univ)
July 2004 Doctor of Arts (D.Arts) [66]
2005 Doctor of the University (D.Univ) [67]
2006 Doctor of Arts (D.Arts) [68]
2007 Doctor of Arts (D.Arts) [69]
2013 Doctorate [70]
2015 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)[71]

Memberships and fellowships

LocationDateOrganisationPosition
1998–present Fellow [72]
2016–present Fellow[73]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: President and Vice Presidents . bafta.org . 30 April 2013 . 16 September 2020.
  2. Web site: Greg Dyke, the new chairman of the London Film School . lfs.org.uk . 29 June 2020.
  3. News: Ahmed. Kamal. Greg Dyke: TV's man of the people. 17 February 2012. The Guardian. 30 January 1999. London.
  4. News: Simon Kuper . Lunch with the FT: Greg Dyke . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210221204/https://www.ft.com/content/8b8dcf44-3293-11e3-91d2-00144feab7de#axzz2he5S2IXN . 10 December 2022 . subscription . Financial Times . 18 October 2013 . 14 March 2017 . live .
  5. Web site: Famous People from Hillingdon. Hillingdon On-Line. 16 July 2011.
  6. Web site: Changing lives : Supporter news 2009 . . 2 March 2010 . 19 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200319180128/https://www.york.ac.uk/admin/dao/Supporting/What_donations_support/ChangingLives_web.pdf . dead .
  7. News: Jone. Chris. Greg Dyke: An ordinary bloke. BBC. 16 July 2011. 28 January 2000.
  8. Web site: Dyke, Greg (1947–) Biography. BFI People. BFI Screenonline. 16 July 2011.
  9. News: TV according to Greg | Media . . 14 March 2017.
  10. Web site: The University of York Vice Chancellor's Office . york.ac.uk . University of York . 17 February 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100211024227/http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/vco/chancellor.htm . 11 February 2010 .
  11. News: Horrie . Chris . TV according to Greg . The Observer . Guardian News & Media Ltd.. 18 July 2011 . London . 1 October 2000.
  12. News: Camden Lock soap opera gets new leading man. . David . Hewson . The Times . London, England . 5 April 1983.
  13. News: After Jay, a mission to entertain. . The Times . London, England . 5 April 1983 . 10.
  14. News: TV-am chief to go in cuts dispute. . David . Hewson . The Times . London, England . 21 May 1984 . 3.
  15. News: Manager quits TV-am after four weeks. . David . Hewson . The Times . 2 June 1984 . 2.
  16. News: News in Brief: Ex TV-am editor gets new job . The Guardian . 17 August 1984.
  17. Web site: Profile – London Weekend Television's Greg Dyke . Management Today . 1 February 1992 . 25 June 2013.
  18. News: Dyke off to LWT . The Times . 10 April 1987.
  19. Web site: Meet the Wrestlers of ITV's World of Sport Wrestling . Radio Times.
  20. News: GMTV brings in new chief to halt slide . Andrew . Culf . The Guardian . 20 February 1993.
  21. Web site: Adam . Dawtrey . Pearson goes global via Grundy purchase . Variety . 3 April 1995 . 14 March 2017.
  22. News: Maggie . Brown . Greg Dyke took pounds 7m home when he left ITV. Now he's hungry for more. Maggie Brown corners Pearson TV's new boss . . 14 March 2017.
  23. Web site: Dyke, Greg (1947–) Biography . BFI Screenonline . 14 March 2017.
  24. Web site: Greg Dyke to be Chancellor of the University of York . 28 November 2003 . University of York . 18 February 2012.
  25. Web site: Greg Dyke . NHS Leadership Day 2010 Biographies . NHS Leadership . 18 February 2012.
  26. News: Greg Dyke resigns from Labour party . The Guardian . Tran . Mark . 25 June 1999.
  27. Web site: John . Gifford . Greg Dyke and John Birt: lessons in leadership . Jonathan Gifford . 28 June 2010 . 12 July 2011 .
  28. News: PA News . BBC staff walk out over Dyke resignation . Times Online . Times Newspapers . 29 January 2004 . 12 July 2011 . London.
  29. News: Dyke . Greg . Freeview: Former BBC boss Greg Dyke charts its rise and rise . The Independent, Monday, 29 October 2007 . 17 July 2011. London . 29 October 2007.
  30. News: Dyke: BBC is 'hideously white' . BBC News. 6 January 2001 . 4 May 2010 .
  31. News: Dyke gets racial equality award . BBC News. 25 October 2011 . 12 July 2011 .
  32. News: Jane . Robins . The first 100 days of Greg Dyke . The Independent . Independent Print . 11 July 2000 . 12 July 2011 . London.
  33. News: Dyke in BBC 'conspiracy' claim . BBC News . 20 September 2009 . 12 January 2020 .
  34. News: BBC apologises as Dyke resigns . BBC News . 29 January 2004 . 12 July 2011.
  35. News: Madeline . Acey . BBC staff take out pro-Dyke ad in Telegraph . Times Online . Times Newspapers . 30 January 2004 . 12 July 2011 . London.
  36. Web site: Minutes o of the BBC Governors . February 2004 . 11 January 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070616200044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/govsmins_feb04.pdf . 16 June 2007.
  37. Web site: Industry Sector . . 14 March 2017.
  38. News: Rob . Sharp . Greg Dyke: 'The Arts had a good run with Labour but I'm still optimistic' . independent.co.uk . Inpendendent Print . 11 April 2011 . 12 July 2011 . London.
  39. Web site: Dyke. Greg . Speech given at the Manchester Evening News Business of the Year Awards . 8 November 2001 . BBC . 15 February 2012.
  40. News: Viner . Brian . Michael Grade and Greg Dyke: 'The chairman and former director-general on opposite sides... and nobody at the BBC televised the bloody game' . 2 December 2017 . The Independent . 17 February 2006 . London.
  41. Web site: Bloss . Ann . Dyke, Greg (1947–) Executive, Presenter . BFI Screenonline . BFIn. 15 February 2012.
  42. News: Tran . Mark . Greg Dyke resigns from Labour party . 15 February 2012 . The Guardian . 25 June 1999 . London.
  43. Web site: The Chancellor Greg Dyke – a brief biography . University of York . 1 February 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100211024227/http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/vco/chancellor.htm . 11 February 2010.
  44. Web site: Bees United Appoint Greg Dyke as New Chairman . Bees United Official Website . 20 January 2006 . Bees United . 1 February 2013.
  45. News: Viner . Brian . Michael Grade and Greg Dyke: 'The chairman and former director-general on opposite sides... and nobody at the BBC televised the bloody game' . https://archive.today/20130420222159/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/michael-grade-and-greg-dyke-the-chairman-and-former-directorgeneral-on-opposite-sides-and-nobody-at-the-bbc-televised-the-bloody-game-466798.html. dead . 20 April 2013 . 15 February 2012 . The Independent. 17 February 2006 . What we really need is promotion, but for clubs like ours the Cup can be very lucrative, especially if there's a replay. Last year we drew at Southampton, which was great, even though we lost at home. The pain this time is that the match didn't get chosen for TV, because for this round you get £260,000, and that can transform a club like Brentford. Can you believe it? You've got the chairman and the former director-general on opposite sides and nobody at the BBC chose to televise the bloody game." . London.
  46. News: Moore . Tom . Brentford chairman Greg Dyke backs Rosler to succeed . London 24 . 3 November 2011 . London 24 . 15 February 2012 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130721070619/http://www.london24.com/sport/brentford_chairman_greg_dyke_backs_rosler_to_succeed_1_1116319 . 21 July 2013.
  47. News: 18 November 2006 . Rosenior sacked as Brentford boss . . 19 November 2006.
  48. News: 10 April 2007. Boss Fitzgerald leaves Brentford . . 10 April 2007.
  49. News: 11 December 2007 . Boss Butcher leaves Brentford job . . 11 December 2007.
  50. News: 30 June 2006 . Allen resigns from Bees . Sky Sports . 18 November 2006.
  51. Web site: New Stadium Major Announcement . Brentford FC official website, 6 June 2010 . Brentford Football Club & FL Interactive Ltd. . 15 February 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120703072325/http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10421~1185238,00.html . 3 July 2012.
  52. News: Greg Dyke to replace David Bernstein as FA chairman . BBC Sport . 21 March 2013 . 14 March 2017.
  53. News: Former BBC director general Greg Dyke set to become new chairman of the FA . https://web.archive.org/web/20130324000748/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/news/9945798/Former-BBC-director-general-Greg-Dyke-set-to-become-new-chairman-of-the-FA.html . dead . 24 March 2013 . London . The Daily Telegraph . Paul . Kelso . 21 March 2013.
  54. Web site: Greg Dyke aims for an England World Cup win at Qatar 2022 . The Guardian . Owen . Gibson . 4 September 2013 . 26 June 2024.
  55. News: . 3 June 2015 . 4.
  56. News: Steve Coogan fiery row with ex-NoW journalist McMullan . Newsnight . British Broadcasting Corporation . 8 July 2011 . 12 July 2011.
  57. News: Greg . Dyke . Murdoch's BSkyB deal is dead in the water . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cb91729c-abf1-11e0-945a-00144feabdc0.html . 10 December 2022 . subscription . Financial Times . 11 July 2011 . 12 July 2011.
  58. Web site: 'Birt's coaching' gave Labour donor Dyke top job at BBC . The Daily Telegraph . Adam . Lusher . Daniel . Foggo . 13 October 2002 . 26 June 2024.
  59. News: Dyke condemns Blair's government. 2 May 2005. BBC News. 28 May 2019.
  60. News: Mark . Sweney . Greg Dyke to head Conservative party's creative industries review | Media . . 20 April 2009 . 14 March 2017.
  61. Web site: Susan Howes Linked in profile. Linked in Corporation. 18 July 2011. dead. https://archive.today/20120718221809/http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/sue-howes/2a/358/566. 18 July 2012.
  62. News: Tyzack. Anna. My Perfect Weekend- Greg Dyke. The Daily Telegraph,10 Dec 2010. Telegraph Media Group, Limited. 17 July 2011. London. 10 December 2010.
  63. Web site: Greg Dyke is the new Chancellor of the University of York. York.ac.uk.
  64. Web site: PRESS RELEASE: GREG DYKE, THE NEW CHAIRMAN OF LONDON FILM SCHOOL | London Film School. Lfs.org.uk. 1 November 2021.
  65. Web site: Governors | London Film School. Lfs.org.uk.
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