Lord John Reith, a pious and stern man, is where public information films begin. He was appointed to become the general manager of the British Broadcasting Company in December 1922 and later became the Director-General in 1927. This company was his to shape, and he set about creating what became a licence funded BBC, which he said would “educate, inform and entertain”. The BBC Reith set out was a BBC for all. Reith’s way of broadcasting was to broadcast the best of ‘high’ culture to improve the general population.

 

This method came with its downfalls, as his belief in the ‘best’ programming was often content from larger cities, such as London, which left out content from other areas. In 1938, television was on the horizon and Lord Reith left the BBC for Imperial Airways, but he has always been remembered as the man who started broadcasts for all, and laying the foundations for television broadcast and public information films.