Ian James McIntyre

Background

Ian McIntyre was born on December 9, 1931 in Banchory, Kincardineshire, Scotland by Hector Harold and Annie Mary Michie (Ballater) McIntyre.

Education

McIntyre attended Prescot Grammar School, as well as St. John’s College at Cambridge, where he obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953, and Master of Arts degree in 1960. He studied at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium from 1953 till 1954.

Career

McIntyre joined the BBC in 1957 at the Topical Talks department. That same year he worked on a twice-weekly current affairs magazine programme, At Home and Abroad, becoming editor in 1959. But at the time he was primarily interested in Conservative politics. So that he became director of information for the Conservative party in Scotland, wrote speeches for Sir Alec Douglas-Home and stood against David Steel in the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency in the 1966 general election. McIntyre lost, though he cut Steel's majority. McIntyre spent most of the 1960s working at Conservative Central Office in Scotland.

After a stint at the Independent Television Authority, McIntyre rejoined the BBC in 1970 as a broadcaster and writer, and devised and presented the Analysis programme. He conducted interviews with two prime ministers, Edward Heath and Harold Wilson, and other leaders including the Shah of Iran.

Appointed to the Radio 4 controllership in 1976, McIntyre first came to wider notice in 1970 as a presenter of Radio 4’s heavyweight current affairs strand Analysis. He worked there until 1978.

He became Controller of Radio 3 that year, serving there for almost 10 years. He was a head of BBC radio’s much-cherished showcase of serious music, drama, talks and high-minded critical debate, he ordered the compulsory retirement of one of Radio 3’s most treasured announcers, Patricia Hughes, because he disliked her “cut-glass tones”.

When his BBC career was over, McIntyre became an associate editor of the Times for a year from 1989, writing leaders and features on broadcasting.

Achievements

• McIntyre was the most controversial Controller of Radio 4 in the history of the network, earning the sobriquet “Mac the Knife” for slicing the Today programme in half in 1977. He was widely regarded as the first Thatcherite at the BBC as well as the last Reithian.
  
  McIntyre penned several books during the course of his career, including biographies of BBC founder John Reith and eighteenth-century Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Expense of Glory: A Life of John Reith

    (A biography of John Reith who founded and, for its first ...)

    1993
  • Dirt & Deity: A Life of Robert Burns

    (Ian McIntyre's biography, published to mark the bicentena...)

    1996
  • Dogfight: The Transatlantic Battle over Airbus

    (Dogfight examines the intense rivalry of the past two dec...)

    1992
  • Proud Doers: Israel After Twenty Years 1968
  • Words: reflections on the uses of language 1975

Politics

McIntyre supported Conservative Party, and in 1966 stood unsuccessfully as the Tory candidate at Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, the seat retained for the Liberals by David Steel.

Membership

McIntyre was a member of Beefsteak Club and Cambridge Union.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "[McIntyre] was terribly adversarial, asking us to justify every play, as if it were politics. We found him terribly difficult to deal with. On the other hand, after a meeting he would say 'let's have a drink' and be perfectly charming."

Connections

McIntyre married Leik Sommerfelt Vogt on 1954. They had 4 children - Andrew, Neil, Anne and Katherine.

Father:

Hestor Harold McIntyre

Mother:

Annie Mary Michie (Ballater) McIntyre

Wife:

Leik Sommerfelt Vogt

Son:

Andrew McIntyre

Son:

Neil McIntyre

Daughter:

Anne McIntyre

Daughter:

Katherine McIntyre