| AdminHistory | The BBC website states that 'The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the corporation's first Director-General. John Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest'.
At the time of delivering the lectures in 1958 Bernard Lovell FRS was Professor of Radio Astronomy at Manchester University. In later life he commented to his son Bryan that he regarded the Reith Lectures as the most important of his writings. |