Ian Jacob

Sir Ian Jacob was Director-General of the BBC from 1952 to 1959, succeeding Sir William Haley and giving way to Sir Hugh Greene.

From a military background, Sir Ian has often been blamed (but has conversely sometimes been praised) for a perceived overt middle-class bias and somewhat "stuffy" attitude in the BBC of the 1950s, which became a factor in its loss of TV audiences to ITV from 1955 onwards.

However, BBC Television in the 50s did broadcast some popular American series, notably The Phil Silvers Show (or Sergeant Bilko as it was almost universally known).