Mary Somerville, OBE (1 November 1897 – 1 September 1963) was the first Director of Schools Broadcasting at the BBC (1925–1949).

[2] While at school, she met and impressed John Reith; already convinced of the potential for radio in education, she offered to work unpaid for the BBC.

[1] She believed firmly in the value of radio programming to enrich children's educational experiences, which she considered overly rigid at the time; under her tenure, school radio programs began to use dramatizations and sound effects to enliven their lessons.

[5][1][6] Somerville worked hard to ensure that BBC school broadcasting was held to high academic standards and was seen as a legitimate enterprise, fighting against skeptics who considered radio to be good for entertainment only.

[1] She was diabetic, and "used to alarm [BBC producer Leonie] Cohn by casually yanking up her skirts during Talks meetings and injecting herself with insulin.