Tony Hall

Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead CBE (b.1951) was born in Birkenhead and joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1973, working on a wide range of TV and radio news programmes, before being made Editor of the Nine O'Clock News in 1985.

Two years later he was appointed Editor of News and Current Affairs, the first time the role had been combined, as part of then deputy Director-General John Birt's reorganisation of the BBC's News division. Hall then became Director of this division in 1990 and was regarded as one of Birt's key lieutenants after he became Director-General in 1992.

He ran BBC News for more than a decade, overseeing the launch of Radio 5 Live, BBC News 24 and BBC News Online, before leaving the Corporation for the Royal Opera House in 2001. He was granted a Life Peerage in 2010. He became Director-General in Spring 2013, making him the first member of the House of Lords to serve as Director-General.