[BITList] Civilisation and The Ascent of Man

[John Feltham]

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Wheldon, Sir  Huw Pyrs  (1916-1986), television broadcaster, was born on 7 May 1916 at his grandmother's home in Prestatyn, the eldest in a family of two sons and two daughters of Sir Wynn Powell Wheldon (1876-1961), solicitor and civil servant, and his wife, Margaret (Megan) Edwards. His father worked in David Lloyd George's law practice before the First World War, had a brave military career, and went on to become registrar of the University College of North Wales in Bangor and then permanent secretary to the Welsh department of the Ministry of Education. Huw Wheldon was educated at Friars School, Bangor (he did not speak English until he was seven) and later at the London School of Economics and Political Science where he graduated BSc (Econ) in 1938. He joined the staff of the Kent education committee, and then war interrupted his career. Enlisting in the East Kent regiment as a private, he was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers (1940), and volunteered to join the airborne forces. He served in both the 1st and 6th airborne divisions, ending the war as a major in the Royal Ulster Rifles, having won the MC shortly after D-day in 1944.

In 1946 Wheldon became director of the Arts Council in Wales, and in 1949 joined the directorate of the Festival of Britain. He helped to ensure the festival reached all of Britain, and for his work he was appointed OBE in 1952, the year he joined the BBC as publicity officer, television. He wanted to be involved in programmes and first made his mark on the screen as the presenter of the children's programme All your Own. He became a national figure when he devised a conkers competition that drew 58,000 conkers from all over Britain. In 1954 he was appointed senior producer, television talks, although he had never directed or produced a programme. His first series was Men in Battle with Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks, and his second Orson Welles's Sketchbook.

From 1958 to 1964 Wheldon devised, edited, and presented Monitor, the first arts programme on television. In this pioneering fortnightly programme he introduced a growing audience to major artists, in numbers and range remarkable for its time. He built around him a team of talented people including John Schlesinger, Ken Russell, Humphrey Burton, David Jones, Patrick Garland, and Melvyn Bragg. He required of all his programmes fidelity and attention to the subject, to the audience, and to the integrity of the programme maker.

Inevitably Wheldon progressed to the most senior posts in BBC television: he was the first television producer to become controller of programmes (1965-8) and he was the first holder of the new post of managing director (1969-75). This was the time when BBC television was at its best with some remarkable series (Civilisation with Sir Kenneth Clark, The Ascent of Man with Jacob Bronowski, and Alistair Cooke's America), challenging drama, refreshing comedy, and lively current affairs and sports programmes. Despite the restrictions of his office (concerned with the BBC's strategy, standards, and finances), programmes and programme makers were what Wheldon cared about most. In his own phrase, he wished programmes to 'give delight and insight'. Although he was a candidate for the post of director-general when Sir Hugh Greene retired, the BBC governors, led by Baron Hill of Luton, preferred to give the job to someone with a lower profile, Charles Curran. Wheldon served him loyally as his deputy until his own retirement in 1976, the year he was knighted.

Three factors helped to shape Wheldon's life: Wales and the advantages of a close-knit family life, the army and its discipline, and the BBC and its creative ethos. They gave him a reference for language and for institutions and for the need to protect them and keep them alive. Wheldon was a tall man, slightly stooped. It was his face that was remarkable: piercing eyes, a pointed chin, a hawk's nose. He was the most generous and companionable of men, the best and sometimes longest teller of stories, and he had an enormous zest for life.

After he left the BBC, Wheldon returned to programme making and wrote and presented the Royal Heritage series (1977) and Destination D-Day (1984), on the fortieth anniversary of the allied landings in Normandy. He became an honorary fellow (1973) and chairman of the court of governors of the London School of Economics (1975-85). He was the president of the Royal Television Society (1979-85) and received every honour possible in television. From 1976 he was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and from 1983 a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He had five honorary doctorates, from Ulster (1975), Wales (1978), London (1984), Loughborough (1985), and the Open University (1980), which he helped to establish.

In 1956 Wheldon married Jacqueline Mary 
   (Jay; d. 1993)
 , the daughter of Hugh Clarke, who had a tool-designing business in Chiswick. They had one son and two daughters. Their family house at 120 Richmond Hill, Richmond, Surrey, was an exceptionally happy home and he died there, from cancer, on 14 March 1986. He was cremated at Mortlake crematorium and his ashes were buried in Kew Gardens. A memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey on 7 May 1986, which would have been his seventieth birthday.

Paul Fox 

H. C. G. Matthew 

Sources  The Times (15 March 1986) + M. Bragg, Sunday Times (16 March 1986) + N. Podhoretz, Washington Post (26 March 1986) + personal knowledge (1996) + private information (1996) [widow] + CGPLA Eng. & Wales (1986)
Archives BBC WAC FILM BBC NFA, interview SOUND BBC NSA, interview
Likenesses  B. Collins, photograph, 1958, NPG [see illus.] · P. Joyce, bromide print, 1977, NPG · G. Stuart, oils, 1983 · W. Thomson, portrait, BBC Television Centre, London · photograph, repro. in Sunday Times
Wealth at death  £465,590: probate, 22 May 1986, CGPLA Eng. & Wales




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