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Are BBC 'fatcats' all so well fed? Are BBC 'fatcats' all so well fed?
(35 minutes later)
• Those who campaigned for the exposure of “fatcat” BBC stars’ pay will have been mildly gratified to see that those earning over £450,000 a year will in future be named thanks to last week’s white paper (though the agitators wanted £150,000 to be the threshold, David Cameron’s salary rounded up rather than DG Lord Hall’s). But they may be disappointed by how few actually make the cut, judging by last July’s BBC annual report which said only nine unnamed presenters trousered between £500,000 and £5m in 2014–15 – a number likely to be boosted by a few earning between £450,000 and £500,000, but also reduced because it presumably included Top Gear’s since-departed motoring musketeers, who reportedly were on £1.5m (Clarkson) and £500,000 (Hammond and May) in their relatively impoverished BBC days. • Those who campaigned for the exposure of “fatcat” BBC stars’ pay will have been mildly gratified to see that those earning more than £450,000 a year will in future be named thanks to last week’s white paper (though the agitators wanted £150,000 to be the threshold, which is David Cameron’s salary rounded up rather than DG Lord Hall’s). But they may be disappointed by how few actually make the cut, judging by last July’s BBC annual report which said only nine unnamed presenters trousered between £500,000 and £5m in 2014-15 – a number likely to be boosted by a few earning between £450,000 and £500,000, but also reduced because it presumably included Top Gear’s since-departed motoring musketeers, who reportedly were on £1.5m (Clarkson) and £500,000 (Hammond and May) in their relatively impoverished BBC days.
• So who are the seriously obese cats, as opposed to the merely tubby ones? That Chris Evans, Gary Lineker and Graham Norton belong in the replete elite is generally agreed, and others often cited as contenders – Fiona Bruce, John Humphrys, Andrew Marr, Jeremy Vine – like them combine two high-profile shows or one daily or weekly big gig and a scattering of others. Beyond that everything is even more speculative. Huw Edwards, although he does markedly less non-news work than Bruce? Nick Grimshaw, who similarly largely confines his BBC work to his Radio 1 day job (but took over from Chris Moyles, who was said to be on £630,000 a year)? Clare Balding, who is expected to play a central role alongside Lineker in this summer’s Olympics coverage and to rejoin the Beeb’s tennis team next month, hopefully in a less deranged format than last year’s Wimbledon 2Day? • So who are the seriously obese cats, as opposed to the merely tubby ones? That Chris Evans, Gary Lineker and Graham Norton belong in the replete elite is generally agreed, and others often cited as contenders – Fiona Bruce, John Humphrys, Andrew Marr, Jeremy Vine – like them combine two high-profile shows or one daily or weekly big gig and a scattering of others. Beyond that, everything is even more speculative. Huw Edwards, although he does markedly less non-news work than Bruce? Nick Grimshaw, who similarly largely confines his BBC work to his Radio 1 day job (but took over from Chris Moyles, who was said to be on £630,000 a year)? Clare Balding, who is expected to play a central role alongside Lineker in this summer’s Olympics coverage and to rejoin the Beeb’s tennis team next month, hopefully in a less deranged format than last year’s Wimbledon 2Day?
• The key demand of John Whittingdale’s white paper is that the BBC should be “distinctive”, echoing the 24-year-old mantra of John Birt’s era as director general, as intoned in his manifesto Extending Choice. That the current top management are at ease with a back-to-Birtism philosophy was nicely symbolised on the very day the paper was unveiled: fresh-faced, hitherto spec-less strategy and digital boss, James Purnell (who before his political career served under Birt as BBC head of corporate planning in the early 90s) appeared on camera for the first time wearing glasses. These were themselves suitably “distinctive” as they were so close to his former boss’s trademark rimless designer specs that they made Purnell look like a Birt tribute act, which may have been the idea.• The key demand of John Whittingdale’s white paper is that the BBC should be “distinctive”, echoing the 24-year-old mantra of John Birt’s era as director general, as intoned in his manifesto Extending Choice. That the current top management are at ease with a back-to-Birtism philosophy was nicely symbolised on the very day the paper was unveiled: fresh-faced, hitherto spec-less strategy and digital boss, James Purnell (who before his political career served under Birt as BBC head of corporate planning in the early 90s) appeared on camera for the first time wearing glasses. These were themselves suitably “distinctive” as they were so close to his former boss’s trademark rimless designer specs that they made Purnell look like a Birt tribute act, which may have been the idea.