Lord Michael Grade
Media CEO & Chairman
The challenges and successes of five decades at the centre of the television industry
Lord Michael Grade is one of the most recognised names in television. With a background in light entertainment, he started his broadcasting career at LWT in 1973. Dominating the British entertainment industry for five decades, he has held the hat-trick of top television jobs – chief executive of Channel 4, chairman of the BBC, and executive chairman of ITV – as well as a chairman at Pinewood Studios. He was awarded a CBE for services to broadcasting in 1998 and was made a life peer in 2011. In this in-depth interview, he recalls the highs and lows of his five decades in the industry, explains why he left a lucrative role at Embassy Television in the US and took “the biggest pay cut in history” to become controller of BBC1, and discusses one of the proudest moments of his career – his involvement in the groundbreaking Live Aid concert.
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