Grace Wyndham Goldie
Encyclopedia
Grace Wyndham Goldie (26 March 1900 – 3 June 1986) was an important innovatory producer in British television for twenty years, particularly in the fields of politics and current affairs. During her career at the BBC, she held her own as one of the few senior women in an establishment dominated by men. As a producer, she pioneered many of the television formats now taken for granted in Britain. Wyndham Goldie rose to become Head of Talks, and later Head of the Current Affairs Group at BBC Television
.
, a small village in the western Scottish Highlands
. Much of her childhood was spent in Egypt
, where her father worked as a civil engineer, and she attended a French Catholic convent school in Alexandria before going on to Cheltenham Ladies' College
. She obtained her first degree at Bristol University, and then attended Somerville College, Oxford
. In 1928, she married Frank Goldie, an actor who used the stage name Wyndham Goldie, which Grace adopted as her married name. Frank Goldie died in 1957.
from 1942 to 1944, she was invited to join the BBC as a radio producer in June 1944. In 1947, she joined the Television Talks Department.
Wyndham Goldie pioneered television coverage of general election
s. In February 1950 came the first general election of the television era. The BBC engaged in no reporting of the campaign whatsoever because of a cautious reading of the Representation of the People Act 1948
. However, producer Grace Wyndham Goldie managed to persuade the BBC to transmit a programme on election night to report the results only - there was to be absolutely no prediction of what was to come.
By 1955, the existence of television on election nights was having a significant effect. It prompted returning officers to hold their counts immediately after the close of polls, so that the results were declared during the early hours of the morning, rather than the following day. In 1955, for the first time, a majority of constituencies
declared on the night (357 of the 630 constituencies).
In 1953 Wyndham Goldie started a new programme, Press Conference, which was based on a format imported from US television. Each week four journalists interviewed a leading politician. The first politician to appear was R. A. Butler, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer
. Subsequent guests included the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld
, and the mayor of Berlin
. Her boss, Cecil McGivern
, wrote to her after the first programme: "You did not invent the idea, my dear, of press people questioning politicians; this has already been done in the States. So you have not changed the nature of television, but by God you have changed the whole future of politics in Britain."
Wyndham Goldie relaunched the ailing Panorama
in 1955, with Richard Dimbleby
as the main presenter. She was instrumental in recruiting Robin Day
from ITN to present the programme at the end of the 1950s.
At the BBC, Grace Wyndham Goldie pioneered the coverage of politics and current affairs on television, and was particularly associated with the successful production of three influential BBC TV programmes: Panorama
, Tonight
, and Monitor
. Among her team of producers and reporters, the so-called 'Goldie Boys', were Alasdair Milne
, Huw Wheldon
, John Freeman
, Christopher Mayhew
, Cliff Michelmore
, Richard Dimbleby
, Donald Baverstock
and Michael Peacock
.
Wyndham Goldie had a low opinion of journalists whom she described as "the dirty mac brigade". She did not like the idea of "the story" and thought that scoops were boys' games. However, she respected the serious journalism that was embodied in such publications as The Times
, The Manchester Guardian, The Economist
and The New Statesman
.
Wyndham Goldie's relationship to That Was The Week That Was
, the satirical TV series broadcast in 1962-1963, was an uneasy one. Her biographer John Grist writes: "Grace's dilemma was this; this was not only a Current Affairs programme but it included entertainment, which was a roundabout way of saying she did not want to have anything to do with it. She was right in that it included a show business element in which she was entirely untutored and had no interest."
Wyndham Goldie pioneered the development and production of political programmes, nightly magazine programmes, arts programmes and programmes exploring consumer issues. As "Head of Talks" at BBC Television, she had a huge influence on the development of the serious side of BBC TV broadcasting. She passionately defended public service broadcasting, and advocated keeping the BBC independent of government interference. She retired from the BBC in 1965, at the age of 65.
Grace Wyndham Goldie died on 3 June 1986 at the age of 86.
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
.
Early life
Grace was born in ArisaigArisaig
Arisaig is a village in Lochaber, Invernessshire, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.-History:On 20 September 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland for France from a place near the village following the failure of the Jacobite Rising. The site of his departure is marked by the Prince's...
, a small village in the western Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
. Much of her childhood was spent in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where her father worked as a civil engineer, and she attended a French Catholic convent school in Alexandria before going on to Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Ladies' College
The Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.-History:The school was founded in 1853...
. She obtained her first degree at Bristol University, and then attended Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
. In 1928, she married Frank Goldie, an actor who used the stage name Wyndham Goldie, which Grace adopted as her married name. Frank Goldie died in 1957.
Career
Grace Wyndham Goldie developed her interest in broadcasting while writing a weekly column as a critic for The Listener between 1935 and 1941. She specialised in drama and entertainment, and wrote enthusiastically about the new medium of television. After working as a civil servant at the Board of TradeBoard of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
from 1942 to 1944, she was invited to join the BBC as a radio producer in June 1944. In 1947, she joined the Television Talks Department.
Wyndham Goldie pioneered television coverage of general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
s. In February 1950 came the first general election of the television era. The BBC engaged in no reporting of the campaign whatsoever because of a cautious reading of the Representation of the People Act 1948
Representation of the People Act 1948
The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections...
. However, producer Grace Wyndham Goldie managed to persuade the BBC to transmit a programme on election night to report the results only - there was to be absolutely no prediction of what was to come.
By 1955, the existence of television on election nights was having a significant effect. It prompted returning officers to hold their counts immediately after the close of polls, so that the results were declared during the early hours of the morning, rather than the following day. In 1955, for the first time, a majority of constituencies
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...
declared on the night (357 of the 630 constituencies).
In 1953 Wyndham Goldie started a new programme, Press Conference, which was based on a format imported from US television. Each week four journalists interviewed a leading politician. The first politician to appear was R. A. Butler, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
. Subsequent guests included the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Hammarskjöld...
, and the mayor of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Her boss, Cecil McGivern
Cecil McGivern
Cecil McGivern CBE was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio before transferring to BBC Television in the late 1940s....
, wrote to her after the first programme: "You did not invent the idea, my dear, of press people questioning politicians; this has already been done in the States. So you have not changed the nature of television, but by God you have changed the whole future of politics in Britain."
Wyndham Goldie relaunched the ailing Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
in 1955, with Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
as the main presenter. She was instrumental in recruiting Robin Day
Robin Day
Sir Robin Day, OBE was a British political broadcaster and commentator. His obituary in the Guardian stated that "he was the most outstanding television journalist of his generation...
from ITN to present the programme at the end of the 1950s.
At the BBC, Grace Wyndham Goldie pioneered the coverage of politics and current affairs on television, and was particularly associated with the successful production of three influential BBC TV programmes: Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
, Tonight
Tonight (1957 TV series)
Tonight was a BBC television current affairs programme presented by Cliff Michelmore and broadcast in Britain live on weekday evenings from February 1957 to 1965. The producers were the future Controller of BBC1 Donald Baverstock and the future Director-General of the BBC Alasdair Milne...
, and Monitor
Monitor (TV series)
Monitor was a BBC arts programme that was launched on 1 September 1958 and ran until 1965.Huw Wheldon was the first editor from 1958 to 1964. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor...
. Among her team of producers and reporters, the so-called 'Goldie Boys', were Alasdair Milne
Alasdair Milne
Alasdair David Gordon Milne is a former BBC producer who became Controller of BBC Scotland, the BBC's Director of Programmes and then Director-General of the BBC in July 1982. His resignation was forced by the BBC Governors in January 1987, following pressure from the Thatcher government...
, Huw Wheldon
Huw Wheldon
Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon OBE MC was a BBC broadcaster and executive.Wheldon was born in Prestatyn, Wales and educated at Friars School, Bangor. His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist, who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War...
, John Freeman
John Freeman
John Freeman may refer to:*John Freeman , character animator for Disney, Marvel Studios and others*John Freeman , Australian politician*John Freeman , writer and literary critic...
, Christopher Mayhew
Christopher Mayhew
Christopher Paget Mayhew, Baron Mayhew was a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1950 and from 1951 to 1974, when he left the Labour Party to become a Liberal...
, Cliff Michelmore
Cliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford "Cliff" Michelmore CBE is a British television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme Tonight, which he presented from 1957 to 1965....
, Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
, Donald Baverstock
Donald Baverstock
Donald Baverstock was a British television producer and executive, born in Cardiff, Wales. He initially worked for BBC Television in their Talks Department, where he was the Editor of the topical magazine programme Highlight and then co-devised and edited its more ambitious and better-remembered...
and Michael Peacock
Michael Peacock
Michael Peacock was a British television executive, who from 1963 until the spring of 1965 was the first ever Controller of BBC Two, the Corporation's second television channel....
.
Wyndham Goldie had a low opinion of journalists whom she described as "the dirty mac brigade". She did not like the idea of "the story" and thought that scoops were boys' games. However, she respected the serious journalism that was embodied in such publications as The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Manchester Guardian, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
and The New Statesman
The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
.
Wyndham Goldie's relationship to That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...
, the satirical TV series broadcast in 1962-1963, was an uneasy one. Her biographer John Grist writes: "Grace's dilemma was this; this was not only a Current Affairs programme but it included entertainment, which was a roundabout way of saying she did not want to have anything to do with it. She was right in that it included a show business element in which she was entirely untutored and had no interest."
Wyndham Goldie pioneered the development and production of political programmes, nightly magazine programmes, arts programmes and programmes exploring consumer issues. As "Head of Talks" at BBC Television, she had a huge influence on the development of the serious side of BBC TV broadcasting. She passionately defended public service broadcasting, and advocated keeping the BBC independent of government interference. She retired from the BBC in 1965, at the age of 65.
Grace Wyndham Goldie died on 3 June 1986 at the age of 86.
Publications
- Facing the Nation: Television & Politics 1936-76, The Bodley Head, 1977 ISBN: 978-0370013831