416:. In September 1936 he was involved in anxious discussions about what would happen if the King decided that he wished to broadcast without the previous knowledge of the government and the Director General. Grisewood felt that the King should be able to broadcast whenever he liked without any consultations and resolved that if he were on duty and received a telephone request from the King he would give him full facilities. The King's broadcast was transmitted from
564:, was absent abroad. Grisewood insisted that differing views of the crisis taken by public and press must be reported in both overseas and UK broadcasts, and that the opposition had a right to reply to Government broadcasts. His influence was crucial in the Governor's decision to resist pressure from Eden and to protect the BBC's tradition of impartiality.
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In 1952 Grisewood succeeded George Barnes as 'Director of the Spoken Word'. With responsibility of news, religion, talks and education, the job was powerful although as
Grisewood commended "the title was absurd". Here he was at the cutting edge of controversy since the most persistent complainants
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in 1951. He was an unrepentant elitist, if elitism means grappling with the not immediately obviously. He believed that difficulty had a value, both in creative and in personal terms and eagerly accepted his role as defender of the highbrow in early post war
Britain. The third programme should
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Grisewood was not especially surprised or disconcerted when, in 1948, there began to be reports of a downturn in the audience with only two Third
Programme listeners per 1,000 population. Indeed, he enjoyed the denigration of the programme by the "hunting men and brigadiers."
471:, persuaded him to return and within two months he returned as planner. Then from 1948 to 1952 he was controller of a Third Programme that became aligned so closely with his interests and attitudes as to be almost an extension of himself.
222:, along with his younger brothers. The classroom became his refuge and he befriended Father Bernard McElligot who was a key figure in both the monastery and school for over 25 years, and who remained a friend until his death in 1990.
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Later in 1946 he was demoted to 'Director – Talks
Division' (or Assistant head ) where he was restless: disliking the departmental in-fighting and what he saw as an increasing left-wing bias, he resigned in July 1947.
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to the new post of controller of the
European division, responsible to the Director-General. Grisewood was appointed as a balancing influence with broadcasting skills. He was acting controller from 1945 to 1946.
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intensify or refine culture in an age of mass participation. He was aware of the dangers of cultural fragmentation between 'experts' in increasingly specialised academic and professional disciplines.
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was not because he painted none." They believed that lowly practices such as plumbing and feeding pigs were not to be despised and that the BBC announcing was part of the scheme of things.
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Though a private person he loved feeling in the thick of things, the novelist in him revelling in complex narratives and intrigues. In retirement he reminisced about discussions with
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about the BBC policy were educationalists, politicians and clergy. The post was abolished in 1955 in the reorganisation that followed the setting up of a television news division.
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church. The nursery was the centre of the children's world, whilst adults and children were 'on equal terms' in the chapel. A devout Roman
Catholic, he bemoaned the demise of the
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in
Hertfordshire to Lieutenant Colonel Harman Joseph Mary Grisewood and Lucille Genevieve Cardozo. His mother was the youngest daughter (3 August 1881) of Henry O'Connell Cardozo,
647:(of a propensity towards shallowness) during the later part of his life. Grisewood was a worldly ascetic whose changeling quality can be seen in David Jones's portrait in
401:, who they admired they redefined the autonomy of art, denying the conventional distinction between the sacred and profane. Grisewood wrote "we do not believe the art of
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He saw the Third
Programme as "fundamental to our civilization" as it was then on the great classical repertory of literature and music. Its finest hour was the
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26:(8 February 1906 – 8 January 1997) was an English radio actor, radio and television executive, novelist and non-fiction writer. He acted as
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In 1933 he joined the BBC staff as an announcer and continued until 1936. He embarked on an arduous self-education plan catching up on
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of 1956 as a national war. Grisewood claimed that this included a plan to take over the BBC completely quoting Eden's press secretary
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From 1936 until 1939 he was 'Assistant to the
Programme Organiser'. From 1939 to 1941 he was 'Assistant Director Programme Planning'.
179:(1968), he described an outing with his brother, nanny, nursemaid and pram, when they were stoned by villagers as they approached the
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549:. Clark later maintained that the plans had never been so drastic but there was a buzz of scandal and the story was debated in the
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From 1941 to 1945 Grisewood was 'Assistant
Controller, European Division'. This was major leap from a relatively obscure post in
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Harman had two younger brothers, Peter Henry (15 Jun 1907 – 1973) and Gabriel Thomas (23 Mar 1910 – 17 Feb 1986) who was known as
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in attendance, a watershed, and Grisewood knew that many of the values he believed in had been defeated permanently.
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587:. He possessed a writer's itch producing stories, poetry and long observant funny letters in a lovely flowing hand.
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512:. His close connection with Greene involved him in the arguments surrounding new progressive policies at the BBC.
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on London. They spent their wedding night under the kitchen table in Chelsea with the poet and artist
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so he resigned from Fortnum and Mason and spent the next four years acting in radio plays with the
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After his retirement Grisewood was at the centre of a major sensation. His autobiography
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and had been brought up in India. His father was born on 20 Oct 1879 at Gatwick House,
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Grisewood, in his position as Assistant Director General of the BBC, was portrayed by
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had just taken over the drama department. Grisewood's most taxing effort was in
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159:. His younger sister Mary Magdalen Lucy Teresa (11 Dec 1911 – 1950) was known as
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Grisewood married Margaret Clotilde Bailey in 1940, during the Second World War
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He left Oxford with little sense of direction and took a job writing labels at
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when, during the interval, he rushed to the Variety Studio to perform a
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Georgetown University – Harman Grisewood Papers: Collection Description
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was religious because he painted so many pious Madonnas and the art of
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became the central text for Grisewood and his Catholic friends. Like
853:– Grisewood talks about working as a radio announcer during the 1936
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The Painted Kipper: A Study of the Spurious in the Contemporary Scene
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always appalled him and he wrote a very caustic and persuasive paper
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In 1929 a friend from his Oxford days invited him read a chapter of
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He later became chief assistant to two director generals, first
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Broadcasting and Society: Comments from a Christian Standpoint
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as bombs fell around them. They then spent their honeymoon at
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in London where he earned £3 per week. Very much part of the
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45:. He joined the young BBC not long after graduating in 1927.
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in 1970 but remained loyal to the Church as he explained in
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from 1948 to 1952. He is credited with the idea in 1966 for
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worked as his assistant controller on the Third Programme.
140:. In 1909 he became Privy Chamberlain of Sword and Cape to
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BBC NEWS | Business | Forty years of The Money Programme
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priest – Father Randolph Traill. In his autobiography,
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His grandmother Concetta Messina lived mainly at the
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where his family had property; and with an uncle in
878:"Portrait of a Maker, Harman Grisewood (1906–1997)"
611:'s craft community set in the beechwood forest at
571:in the dead of night. He published three novels,
431:Wartime – Assistant Controller, European Division
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869:– Grisewood talks about the impact of the 1956
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130:George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
933:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
163:. When he was young the family moved to the
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257:. In his last year he shared rooms with
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712:The Roman Quarry and Other Sequences
918:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
668:Epoch and Artist: Selected Writings
537:(1968) described the conflict over
491:1950s – Director of the Spoken Word
439:to become second in command to Sir
284:, he spent many of his evenings at
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231:Oxford University Dramatic Society
144:an honour which is known now as a
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861:"Interview with Harman Grisewood"
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705:The Dying Gaul and Other Writings
500:Assistant to the Director General
218:In 1916, aged 10, he was sent to
75:Sovereign Military Order of Malta
63:Order of the British Empire (CBE)
824:Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story
522:Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story
225:He won a history scholarship to
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414:Edward VIII's abdication crisis
229:and became a leading member of
104:, Essex, educated at Beaumont,
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20:Harman Joseph Gerard Grisewood
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714:(1981) editor with René Hague
386:had great influence on him.
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239:Sir Gyles Isham, 12th Baronet
122:11th Bn Royal Sussex Regiment
92:Harman Grisewood was born at
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48:He was controller of the BBC
845:"Harman Grisewood Interview"
812:Thame History, The Prebendal
556:At the time in question Sir
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370:Announcer, abdication crisis
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233:(OUDS), where he befriended
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67:Knight of Grace and Devotion
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645:De procliviate ad levitatem
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61:In 1960 he was awarded the
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749:Obituary: Harman Grisewood
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366:song in John Watt's show.
519:in the 2008 TV programme
251:Baron John Redcliffe-Maud
227:Worcester College, Oxford
189:Why Am I Still a Catholic
146:Gentlemen of His Holiness
71:Knight of Magistral Grace
43:Worcester College, Oxford
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680:The Last Cab on the Rank
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577:The Last Cab on the Rank
273:in his OUDS production.
613:Speen, Buckinghamshire
267:Theodore Komisarjevsky
882:National Museum Wales
649:National Museum Wales
395:Art and Scholasticism
384:Progress and Religion
331:BBC Repertory Company
282:Brideshead generation
191:, published in 1980.
185:Tridentine Latin Mass
152:'s true travellers'.
110:Christ Church, Oxford
34:, a lifelong friend.
694:(1968) autobiography
325:. He was paid three
112:; and served in the
692:One Thing at a Time
535:One Thing at a Time
480:Festival of Britain
469:BBC Third Programme
354:Christopher Marlowe
314:The Children's Hour
177:One Thing at a Time
55:The Money Programme
37:He was educated at
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579:, and a spy story
445:Bush House, London
437:Broadcasting House
380:Christopher Dawson
336:He performed with
220:Ampleforth College
80:The BBC presenter
65:and also became a
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855:abdication crisis
759:, 10 January 1997
517:Nicholas Woodeson
473:Christopher Sykes
465:Sir George Barnes
441:Ivone Kirkpatrick
278:Fortnum and Mason
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255:Christopher Sykes
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142:Pope Pius X
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873:on the BBC
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637:Rene Hague
573:The Recess
422:Lord Reith
376:T.S. Eliot
364:Vaudeville
296:BBC career
150:Baudelaire
102:Billericay
88:Early life
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633:Tom Burns
609:Eric Gill
581:Stratagem
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508:and then
399:Eric Gill
359:Edward II
301:BBC drama
271:King Lear
214:Education
165:Prebendal
73:) of the
317:for the
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173:Catholic
138:Boer war
867:. 1982.
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529:Writing
327:guineas
308:Ivanhoe
136:in the
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663:(1949)
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382:whose
204:Cyprus
200:Grasse
161:Missie
116:, the
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