Ex-BBC boss George Entwistle enrols at Oxford

 
11 October 2013

News trickles across from the ivory towers of Oxford that a new student has enrolled at the Department for Continuing Education. It’s George Entwistle, the former BBC director-general.

It is unclear which course he has chosen but it’s thought to be a part-time masters in the history of design, which takes in the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain, decoration in France, the study of furniture and garden history.

Entwistle attended the first session of the course this weekend. The former D-G introduced himself as: “I’m George and I’m an ex-BBC journalist.”

An understatement: Entwistle worked for the BBC for 22 years, before being promoted to director-general. He lasted 54 days in that post having been destroyed in a 15-minute interview with Today presenter John Humphrys over the false Newsnight report on Lord McAlpine, just after the Jimmy Savile scandal erupted. He left with a £450,000 pay-off, which would handsomely cover the £4,270 course fees.

Entwistle has also become a trustee of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a non-paid role for which he is described modestly on the website as a “former BBC executive”. The Londoner approached Entwistle for comment via the PCF but he has yet to respond.

At Oxford he will be reunited with old friends. Former Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer is master of St Peter’s College and the university’s chancellor is Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, which appointed him to the director-general’s job in the first place.

Won’t it be wonderful to see the graduation handshake?

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