Michael Checkland

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Sir Michael Checkland (born 1936) was Director-General of the BBC from 1987 to 1992, having been appointed after the forced resignation of Alasdair Milne.

As a former BBC accountant (hence his somewhat derogatory nickname "Michael Chequebook") he was more cautious and less radical than Milne, and therefore much less potentially unsettling to the Thatcher government. It has been claimed that the exodus to Channel 4 in the early 1990s of dramatists like Dennis Potter and Alan Bleasdale, who had both been responsible for series which caused outrage among Conservatives during the Milne era, had much to do with the relative lack of risk-taking at the BBC under Checkland and his successor John Birt, who was deputy director-general throughout Checkland's reign.

He bowed out from the BBC, and slammed the Governors and Marmaduke Hussey at a Royal Television Society conference for thinking "FM" stood for "Fuzzy Monsters". Following his retirement from the BBC, Sir Michael became closely associated with the British charity, NCH (originally National Children's Homes).

Since then Sir Michael has also become widely involved in a range of further charities and public positions, including Director of the National Youth Music Theatre 1992 - 2002, Chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 1995 - 2001, Governor of Westminster College, Oxford 1993 - 1997, Governor of Birkbeck College London 1993 - 1997, visiting Professor International Academy Broadcasting Montreux 1995 - 1997. Currently Sir Michael is a Trustee of Reuters, Chairman of Horsham Arts Festival, Chairman of the University of Brighton and a Member of the Independent Television Commission.

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Preceded by Alasdair Milne 1982–1987	Director-General of the BBC 1987–1992	Succeeded by John Birt 1992–2000