Greg Dyke: Inside Story - Tapa dura

The eagerly awaited, frequently explosive and always entertaining memoirs of the recent Director-General of the BBC, whose departure in January 2004 caused a huge popular outcry.

Greg Dyke grew up in the 1950s in the small West London suburb of Hayes. Written off as a dud by his schoolteachers, he attended York University before becoming a local newspaper reporter. At the age of 30, he was unemployed. Then came his lucky break: he became a current affairs researcher at London Weekend Television.

LWT, TVAM, TV5, Pearson Television – Greg Dyke's progress has been an extraordinary rollercoaster ride through some of our favourite programmes, and his descriptions of the personalities and rivalries are animated by an irrepressible love of the medium.

Then, on 28 January 2000, he became Director-General of the BBC. His appointment was almost as controversial as his departure was to be exactly four years later; he was accused of being a 'Tony crony' and his instincts were regarded as being far too populist: Yet, in his relatively brief spell at the helm, he not only launched four new TV channels and five radio stations, but also transformed an organization blighted by his predecessor, John Birt, kicking out the consultants and backing the programme-makers.

When he left his post after the biggest conflict between the government and the BBC in living memory, some 3000 members of his staff took to the streets in an unprecedented protest. Thousands signed petitions.

Greg Dyke tells his full side of this story – the background of relentless pressure from the thuggish Alastair Campbell and Number 10; the rights and wrongs (but mostly rights) of the Gilligan affair; the fatal flaws of the Hutton Inquiry; the bad behaviour of some of the Governors.

All in all, Inside Story is a riveting read about a high-profile life that takes the lid off a wide range of political and media issues, and never fails to entertain.

Greg Dyke was born in 1947 and educated at Hayes Grammar School and York University. Before becoming Director-General of the BBC in January 2000, he had enjoyed spells as Editor-in-Chief at TV-am, Director of Programmes at TVS and LWT (where he was Chief Executive from 1990 to 1994), a Director of Channel Four Television, and Chairman and Chief Executive of Pearson Television (1995-9). He lives with his partner Sue Howes in Twichenham, Middlesex, and has four children.