Leonard Miall
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Rowland Leonard Miall (6 November 1914 – 24 February 2005) was a broadcaster and administrator at the BBC for 35 years, from 1939 to 1974. In retirement, he became a research historian, studying the history of broadcasting.
Early life
Miall was born in
BBC career
Miall joined the European Service of the BBC in early 1939. He took charge of broadcasts in German until 1942, when was seconded to the
He returned to the BBC in 1945, and was briefly a special correspondent in
In June 1947, he reported a speech at
When Miall returned to London, he served as head of "television talks" - documentaries and current affairs - at BBC television from 1954, assisted by
Miall was promoted to assistant controller at the BBC in 1961, in charge of the planning for the new BBC television channel,
After a period as Assistant Controller for Programme Services, Television, Miall returned to America in 1966 to run the BBC's New York office, in charge of editing news coverage and also selling BBC
Later life
In retirement, he researched broadcasting history. He became a consultant research historian at the BBC, and assisted Professor Asa Briggs in producing the official History Of Broadcasting In The United Kingdom. He also wrote obituaries for The Independent from 1987, and published a book, Inside The BBC: British broadcasting characters, in 1994.
Family life
Miall married Lorna Rackham, in 1941, and together they had three sons and a daughter. She died in 1974. He married his second wife, Sally Bicknell (née Leith), in 1975, becoming the stepfather of Stephen Bicknell and his three older brothers. He retired to Taplow in Berkshire, where he died a few months after celebrating his 90th birthday.
References
- ^ Bootham School Register. York, England: Bootham Old Scholars Association. 2011.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography[permanent dead link]
- ^ Grist, John (25 February 2005). "Leonard Miall". The Independent. Retrieved 3 September 2016.