- Austen Kark
Austen Kark (
20 October 1926 –10 May 2002 ) was a managing director of theBBC World Service . He was one of three former holders of that post, along withGerard Mansell andJohn Tusa , to oppose the plans ofJohn Birt to merge the service into the BBC. After Birt became director general of the BBC in 1992, he had planned to end the service's independent status atBush House in central London, and absorb it within the rest of the corporation.Kark led a varied career before his tenure with the BBC. He was the son of a
London army major who became a publisher. He attendedUpper Canada College inToronto , the Nautical College inPangbourne , theRoyal Naval College , andMagdalen College, Oxford . He became a Royal Navymidshipman in 1944, serving two years with the East Indies fleet, aboard HMS "Nelson" and HMS "London".In 1948 at
Oxford , Kark directed the first production ofJean-Paul Sartre 's "The Flies ". He later joined his family's magazine business, Norman Kark Publications. One of its magazines was the glossy literary magazine "Courier". Kark married Margaret Schmahmann in 1949; they had two daughters. The couple divorced in 1954. Kark marriedNina Bawden the same year and became stepfather to her two sons. They had one daughter. He became a BBC reporter in 1954 and became head of the South European service at Bush House in 1964. His experiences in South Europe fuelled his interest in the region, particularlyGreece ; he would later write guidebooks about the country.Kark moved to the East European and Russian service in 1972. The following year he became Editor of the World Service. He advised the last governor of
Rhodesia ,Lord Soames , on broadcasting the 1979 election in that country.He became controller of engineering services in 1974. In 1980, he chaired the
Harare government report on radio and television inZimbabwe underRobert Mugabe . In 1981 he began a two year tenure as Deputy Managing Director of External Broadcasting. He was promoted to Managing Director in 1984, exactly 30 years after he joined the BBC.Kark was the man-in-the-middle of another great BBC controversy — the launching of the
BBC World television service to complement its radio counterpart. The idea was first mooted by Kark's predecessor,Douglas Muggeridge — the nephew of the broadcasterMalcolm Muggeridge . Kark retired in 1986.Kark was a man of broad interests, especially involving southern Europe and the Commonwealth. He became a trustee of the
Commonwealth Journalists' Association in 1993. In retirement, he wrote "Attic In Greece" (1994), and "The Forwarding Agent" (1999), a spy thriller, set in the Middle East that was praised by the crime writerPD James , an old friend. Most of his book was written at his home inNauplion , a port in the Aegean, where he and his wife, the novelistNina Bawden , spent much of their time. In London, the couple lived inIslington , in a house backing on to theGrand Union Canal . His hobbies includedreal tennis , travelling and studying mosaics. He was a member of the Oriental Club and the MCC, and was appointed CBE in 1987.Austen Kark died in the
Potters Bar rail crash at age 75, in which his wife, the authorNina Bawden was severely injured.References
*cite news
author=Dennis Barker
title=BBC mandarin who successfully defended the world service
date=2002-05-13
publisher=The Guardian
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/pottersbar/story/0,11994,714571,00.html
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