A British broadcaster, producer and academic, who had a huge impact on the landscape of the UK’s television and film industries. In 1960, he joined the BBC as a producer, editing daily current affairs show 24 Hours, a precursor to Newsnight. He resigned in 1971 to lobby the Government for an open broadcasting authority, helping to inform the eventual creation of Channel 4, where Smith served as a board member in its early days. In 1979, he was appointed director of the British Film Institute (BFI), a post he held until 1988, leading the organisation and helping raise millions towards supporting its mission. After the BFI, Smith was made president of Magdalen College, Oxford until his retirement in 2005. He was given a CBE in 1987 and made a Fellow of the BFI a year later.
Read Anthony Smith's BFI obituary
