Lord Michael Grade visits Rochdale Sixth Form College

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Lord Michael Grade, Julian Appleyard and Brett Wicks

Lord Michael Grade visited Rochdale Sixth Form College today (Wednesday 29 April) to deliver a talk to students about his role in the House of Lords and his career in journalism and TV.

During his time with the students, Lord Grade spoke about a variety of topics including his love for the BBC, politics, media work and journalism.

Lord Grade started his career as a sports journalist for the Daily Mirror in 1960 and was a sports columnist from 1964 to 1966.

He left journalism and moved to work in the talent agency business where he worked with aspiring stars. He told the students of working with actor Alec Guinness. He told a tale about advising Mr Guinness against a role in Star Wars! He also represented Morecambe and Wise and Larry Grayson.

Lord Grade entered the television industry in 1973 when he joined London Weekend Television (LWT). He became Director of Programming in 1977.

He joined the BBC in 1984 as the Controller of BBC One. He described taking this role as “taking the biggest pay cut in history”.

At the beginning of 1988, Lord Grade accepted the post of Chief Executive of Channel 4. He described this opportunity as “exciting”.

Alter leaving Channel 4 in 1997, Lord Grade left television but later returned to the BBC in 2004 as the Chairman. He resigned in 2006 and went on to become Chairman of ITV in 2007. At the time he described ITV as “being in trouble” and also described himself at the time as a “media paramedic”.

Lord Grade stepped down as the Chief Executive of ITV in 2009.

He has been the Charmin of Pinewood studios for 14 years and was appointed as a Lord by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011.

Students also took part in a question and answer session with Lord Grade and asked questions surrounding topics including Jeremy Clarkson and the BBC, votes for 16 and 17-year-olds, Netflix and YouTube. Lord Grade also gave advice to students looking to head into the media industry as part of their future careers.

After his visit, Lord Grade described his time at the college as a “pleasure”.