Mike Hill: 'Hands-off' BBC executive

'Ah – m'dear feller! Good ter see you!" These were the almost inevitable opening words from Mike Hill, the tall, debonair BBC executive-without-portfolio, on greeting a fellow colleague. A man out of his time – he would have been equally at home in a Regency coffee house picking over the stories of the day – he was in fact one of BBC Television's more unusual executives, a delightful man who employed a "hands-off" policy that allowed his staff to make their own decisions. He gave useful advice when asked, and was at all times optimistic and generous in encouragement and praise. His great gift at the Corporation was to survive, and this he achieved through enormous charm and a sharp wit, which manifested itself through a fund of scurrilous observations and stories inspired by the human foibles of his superiors on the sixth... [read full story]