Huw Wheldon

Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, OBE, MC (7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a Welsh broadcaster and BBC executive.

[1] His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War.

He also began to produce and present adult programmes, such as Men in Battle with Sir Brian Horrocks, and Portraits of Power with Robert McKenzie.

Monitor featured specially made films, sometimes just one full-length item, eventually using actors to re-enact the subjects' lives.

During this time he again gathered a team of the talents about him, promoting fellow programme makers such as David Attenborough and Paul Fox to high executive office, and the period of his administration included programmes such as Dad's Army, Kenneth Clark's Civilisation, Alistair Cooke's America, and Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man (the last two were co-productions with Time-Life Television).

Produced by Michael Gill, it achieved immense popularity ratings in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

He disarmed potential sponsors of the school by eschewing flattery and opening negotiations with the bald statement that what he was after was their cash.

In addition to this, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) dispenses a Huw Wheldon Award for Specialist Factual Programme.

Sir Huw's lasting influence, other than as a programme maker, which was considerable, probably lies in the ways in which he articulated the needs and requirements of public service broadcasting.