A few months later the Governors decided it was time for Ogilvie himself to resign.In fairness to Ogilvie there were good but secret reasons for the decision to move to Caversham, though whether he was fully privy to them at the time is not clear. A dispatch rider straightway drove to Wood Norton with instructions to Whitley to return his pass and bicycle immediately, and to leave without working out his notice.However the Governors were not prepared to support Ogilvie in the enforcement of his discipline and two of them – Lady Violet Bonham Carter and Harold Nicolson – wrote Whitley friendly letters hoping that he would return after the war. Moreover his address, according to the monitors (who were notably expert at accurate reporting), was such a travesty of the managers’ reasons for resignation that Whitley, before departing, gave vent to his indignation in a confidential note to each of the Governors telling them what he thought of Ogilvie’s conduct.Oliver Whitley forgot that (under a system ironically devised by his father) the Director-General’s secretary doubled as clerk to the Governors She intercepted his complaints and passed them to Ogilvie. Invaluable members of the specialised staff would be lost, thus breaking up the esprit de corps, and reception conditions would be technically worse The Director-General, F.W.

Ogilvie, Sir John Reith’s sadly inadequate successor, was adamant that the move must take place, despite misgivings expressed by his deputy, Sir Cecil Graves, and other senior staff. Marriott and Whitley both felt the decision was insensitive, whatever reasons Ogilvie might have had for it, and decided to resign and enlist in the forces.The situation was aggravated when Ogilvie went to Wood Norton to justify the decision and tell the monitoring staff they must obey orders, but excluded both Whitley and Marriott from the staff meeting. Together they managed a well-knit polyglot team whose reporting and analysis of foreign broadcasts and the Nazis’ internal communications were making an important contribution to the war effort.In 1941 Marriott and Whitley, both dedicated and efficient men, considered that a plan to move the Monitoring Service from Wood Norton to Caversham Park near Reading would be unwise. Early in his career he resigned, and was then sacked from the BBC on an issue of principle in which he was in dispute with the Director-General. Yet five years later he was welcomed back and eventually rose to become the acting Director-General himself.He was born in 1912 in Halifax, where his father was the Liberal MP, and educated at Clifton and New College, Oxford, and after qualifying as a barrister, and shortly after his father’s death, in 1935 he joined the BBC.At the outbreak of the Second World War the Monitoring Service was established at Wood Norton, near Evesham, with Richard Marriott as Director and Oliver Whitley as the Chief Monitoring Supervisor. Despite outstanding service he steadily refused to allow his name to be submitted for inclusion in any honours list. Then, in 1930, he was appointed Chairman of the BBC and was among the best in the corporation’s history, serving until his death in 1935.

Oliver Whitley, a former Managing Director of External Broadcasting and Chief Assistant to the Director-General, was regarded by many as the keeper of the BBC’s conscience. Whitley, after whom the joint industrial councils were named, declined the customary viscountcy when he retired in 1928 after seven years as Speaker of the House of Commons. Oliver John Whitley, broadcasting administrator: born Halifax, Yorkshire 12 February 1912; Head of General Overseas Service, BBC 1950-54, Assistant Controller, Overseas Services 1955-57, Appointments Officer 1957-60, Controller, Staff Training and Appointments 1960-64, Chief Assistant to the Director-General 1964-68, Managing Director, External Broadcasting 1969-72; married 1939 Elspeth Forrester-Paton (four sons, one daughter); died Benderloch, Argyll 22 March 2005.
Oliver Whitley, a former Managing Director of External Broadcasting and Chief Assistant to the Director-General, was regarded by many as the keeper of the BBC’s conscience.His father, J.H. Nor would he accept the proffered knighthood (KCSI) for his chairmanship of the Royal Commission on Labour in India. Reports indicate that he was stabbed by his 25-year-old son, who had previously served a prison term for drug dealing. The son has been charged with his father’s murder.William Hartston. With a day or two to ponder each move, which is then posted to the opponent, he found the brand of chess best suited to his temperament.