Austen Kark
Austen Steven Kark
Kark had a varied career before his tenure with the BBC. He was the son of a
In 1948 at Oxford, Kark directed the first production of Jean-Paul Sartre's The Flies. He later joined his family's magazine business, Norman Kark Publications. One of its magazines was the glossy literary magazine Courier. Kark married Margaret Schmahmann in 1949; they had two daughters. The couple divorced in 1954. Kark married novelist Nina Bawden the same year and became stepfather to her two sons. They had one daughter. He became a BBC reporter in 1954 and became head of the South European service at Bush House in 1964. His experiences in South Europe fuelled his interest in the region, particularly Greece; he would later write guidebooks about the country.
Kark moved to the East European and Russian service in 1972. The following year he became Editor of the World Service. He advised the last governor of Rhodesia, Lord Soames, on broadcasting the 1979 election in that country.
He became controller of engineering services in 1974. In 1980, he chaired the Harare government report on radio and television in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. In 1981 he began a two-year tenure as Deputy Managing Director of External Broadcasting. He was promoted to Managing Director in 1984, exactly 30 years after he joined the BBC.
Kark was the man-in-the-middle of another great BBC controversy – the launching of the
Kark was a man of broad interests, especially involving southern Europe and the
Austen Kark died at the age of 75 in the Potters Bar rail crash, in which his wife was severely injured.