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Veteran BBC presenter quits over ‘diversity drive’ — Analysis

The presenter of Radio 4 present ‘Quote… Unquote’ mentioned he resigned after feeling compelled to e book various however unsuitable company

Nigel Rees, a BBC presenter for 46 years, has revealed that he resigned as a result of he was sad with the company’s fixed demand for “variety.” He claims he was typically made to ask sure company as a box-ticking train.

Talking to the Sunday Occasions, Nigel Rees, the previous presenter of Radio 4 present ‘Quote… Unquote’, who resigned final month, mentioned that he felt his present was being interfered with by individuals above him who needed to push their variety agenda. 

“We had prescriptions to have various teams and disabled company. I didn’t agree with it in any respect however I went together with it as a result of I needed to. It got here from upstairs, and it appeared to be a basic precedence,” he acknowledged.

Rees claimed that the BBC’s targets typically led to tough conditions through which the visitor knew that that they had been invited within the identify of variety. 

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“I’m not keen to go on having my decisions interfered with to be able to tick packing containers within the identify of variety and illustration,” Rees informed the Sunday Occasions, including: “It’s tough having it enforced for the sake of it. It’s also patronizing, not least to the individuals who don’t wish to be on as a result of they really feel they’re ticking a field.”

Rees mentioned that he felt his autonomy decline in recent times, having as soon as had the flexibility to ask whom he wished onto the present. The BBC more and more interfered in visitor decisions on the grounds that they may very well be offensive to the viewers.

In an extra instance of this encroachment on his autonomy, Rees mentioned he was requested to not point out sure traces from Noel Coward’s 1932 comedian tune ‘Mad Canine and Englishmen’. The BBC feared it will promote “colonial attitudes.”

The 77-year-old pitched ‘Quote… Unquote’ to the BBC 46 years in the past and has since introduced 57 sequence, internet hosting greater than 500 company. Dame Judi Dench, Sir David Attenborough, Anthony Horowitz, and Glenda Jackson have all taken half.

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