Saint Andrew Press. Reith of the BBC: My Father

Reith of the BBC: My Father

Marista Leishman

£8.99

Reith of the BBC: My Father

ISBN: 9780715208571

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MARISTA LEISHMAN

360pp

This is the extraordinary story of a remarkable man. Lord Reith built the worldwide institution that is the British Broadcasting Corporation. His remarkable life was tension-filled, from the frontline of the First World War, to the corridors of Broadcasting House, titanic clashes with Winston Churchill to the abdication of a king. Along the way, he was also High Commissioner to the General Assembly.
Reith's daughter, Marista Leishman, reveals the truth behind the legend in this highly acclaimed book.

'a sensational book.' - Andrew Marr

'one of the most fascinating books I've read in a very long time ... Reith emerges as one of the most extraordinary figures of the twentieth century.' - Stephen Fry

'a fascinating insight into the character and personality of the first Director General and the mad, early days of the BBC. She manages to inform, educate and entertain. Like father, like daughter, I guess!' - Jenni Murray

'Reith's long shadow sometimes seems impenetrable. This casts some welcome new light on him.' - James Naughtie

Shortlisted for the Saltire Society Book of the Year

Author Information

Marista Leishman grew up in the dramatic and awkward household of Sir John Reith, where she learned a solitary self-reliance that helped her to maintain her equilibrium in the world of her mercurial father. She attended a rigorous boarding school and then St Andrews University. After graduating with a degree in English and Philosophy, she spent time fundraising and during this time she worked with the Very Rev. Lord MacLeod of Fuinary – another outsize Scot who, like John Reith, 'loved a crisis'.

After marrying and bringing up her four children, she worked for the National Trust for Scotland and then launched the Insite Consultancy. Throughout her life, Marista has always been, like her father, a scribbler – on trains, aeroplanes or wherever she happens to be. With great insight and perspective and an absorbing style, she is now responding to a question that she has heard many, many times: 'What was it like growing up with Reith'? What, indeed?"

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Reith of the BBC: My Father

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Author Information