Editing Ian Jacob (section)

==Post-war==
As Jacob had never been in command of troops, he had few prospects for serious work in the forces after the war and sought to make use of his experience in communications. Indeed, he was one of a number of wartime information service staff who moved into broadcasting after 1945. Jacob retired from the Army on 1 July 1946 with the honorary rank of major-general.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37635|supp=y|page=3361|date=28 June 1946}}</ref>

By the end of the war, the [[BBC]]'s European Service (later the [[BBC World Service]]), based at [[Bush House]], had become the world's most respected and sophisticated foreign language broadcasting operation and had been admired for its contribution to the war effort. After the war, however, its significance was greatly reduced and its future in some doubt. The departing head of the service, [[Ivone Kirkpatrick|Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick]] (who would become the Chairman of the [[Independent Television Authority]] a decade later), recommended Jacob as a potential successor. [[William Haley|Sir William Haley]], the BBC's Director-General, had already met Jacob during preparations to report the news of the [[D-Day]] landings and was aware that his political contacts (Churchill in particular) could be valuable. He heeded Kirkpatrick's recommendation, and Jacob was duly appointed Controller of the European Service following his retirement from the Army. Jacob accepted the post shortly after receiving a knighthood for his work with the war cabinet.

In 1947, Haley decided to rationalise the BBC's overlapping European and Overseas services into a single operation. Jacob's successful management of Bush House led to his being appointed Director of the reconstructed Overseas service in which post he continued until 1951. In February 1950, he helped to establish the [[European Broadcasting Union]] (responsible for the [[Eurovision Song Contest]] and similar events) and served as its first President until 1960.