Editing George Barnes (BBC controller)

{{Short description|British broadcasting executive}}
{{For|other people of the same name|George Barnes (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{One source|date=October 2023}}
'''Sir George Reginald Barnes''' (13 September 1904 – 22 September 1960) was a British [[broadcasting]] executive, who was a station Controller of both [[BBC Radio]] and later [[BBC Television]] in the 1940s and 1950s. He was Principal of the University College of North Staffordshire, now [[Keele University]], from 1956 to 1960.<ref name = "ODNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30603 Laurence Gilliam: ''Barnes, Sir George Reginald'', rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 26 Oct 2012]</ref>

==Early life==
He was born in [[Byfleet]], [[Surrey]], England. After spells at the Royal Naval Colleges in Osborne and later Dartmouth, he attended [[King's College, Cambridge]], from 1922 to 1927.<ref name = "ODNB"/>

==Career==
After Cambridge he returned to Dartmouth as a Master at the school there till 1930. After a short spell at the [[Cambridge University Press]] he then joined the [[BBC]] in 1935 as a Producer in the Talks Department. He produced talks with several high-profile figures, including in 1937 producing what is now the only record of author [[Virginia Woolf]]'s voice in the 'Craftsmanship' edition of ''Words Fail Me'' series, broadcast on 29 April 1937. The same year he produced four talks by [[William Butler Yeats]].<ref name = "ODNB"/>

In 1946 he was promoted to be the first ever Controller of the new BBC Radio station, the [[Third Programme]], which still exists today in the form of [[BBC Radio 3]], as it was renamed in 1967. He held this position for four years before in October 1950 becoming the Director of [[BBC Television]]. His appointment caused the resignation of the Controller of Programmes, [[Norman Collins]], who disagreed with a man whose background was in sound broadcasting being appointed as his superior in the television service.

It was under his tenure as Director that interest in television exploded, particularly with the screening of the [[coronation]] of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] in 1953. Drawing an audience of an estimated 20 million British and 300 million worldwide viewers – an unprecedented viewership – the Coronation broadcast, when viewed later by the Queen, caused her to knight Barnes on the spot at the BBC's [[Lime Grove Studios]]. Television coverage was now nationwide, although in 1955 the service was faced with the prospect of competition for the first time when the rival [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network was launched.<ref name = "ODNB"/>

Barnes retired from broadcasting in 1956, becoming Principal of the University College of North Staffordshire, now [[Keele University]].

==Personal life==
In 1927 he married Dorothy Anne, daughter of Henry Bond, [[List of Masters of Trinity Hall, Cambridge|Master]] of [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]] 1919–1929. He died at Keele in 1960, aged 56, leaving his wife, Anne, and their son Anthony.<ref name = "ODNB"/>

==Publications==
* ''A List of Books printed in Cambridge at the University Press, 1521–1800''. Compiled by Francis J. H. Jenkinson, Sydney Castle. Roberts and George Reginald Barnes. Edited by G. R. Barnes (1935)
* ''The Private Papers of John, Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, 1771–1782'' Edited by G. R. Barnes and J. H. Owen. Four volumes (1932–38)
* ''Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 69'' by John Montagu, George Reginald Barnes and John Hely Owen (1932)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{succession box
|title=[[Keele University|Principal, University College of North Staffordshire<br>(now Keele University)]]
|years = 1956–1960
|before=[[Sir John Lennard-Jones]]
|after=[[Dr Harold McCarter Taylor]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{BBC}}
{{Principals and Vice-Chancellors of Keele University}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, George}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:BBC executives]]
[[Category:British radio executives]]
[[Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Surrey]]
[[Category:English television executives]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:People associated with Keele University]]
[[Category:People from Byfleet]]