Prior to this appointment, Graham was Director General of the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority.
He reported on the liberation of the Nazi death camps and Indian independence, and subsequently specialised in covering Eastern Europe.
He went on to St Edward's School, Oxford, then Liverpool University, where he took a BA in History, serving as President of the Guild of Undergraduates (1971-72).
Prior to his appointment as Director General of the ASA in 2000, Graham had worked for the BBC since the mid-1970s, including serving as Secretary to the Board of Governors.
In the general elections of 1983 and 1987 he stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal-SDP Alliance candidate for the North Wiltshire parliamentary constituency.