BBC Director-General praises Sunderland on visit for Reith Lecture

By Tony Gillan
Published 15th Nov 2023, 13:23 BST
From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.
From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.
Prestigious Reith Lecture delivered in Berlin, London, Atlanta - and Sunderland

From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.
From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie has made a surprise visit to Wearside when he addressed an audience in The Fire Station auditorium.

Mr Davie closed proceedings at this year's prestigious Reith Lecture. The lecture, titled The Future of Solidarity, was delivered by the academic and author Professor Ben Ansell.

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It was the third of four lectures to be recorded in front of live audiences this autumn, with the others taking place in London and Berlin, with an Atlanta, Georgia lecture yet to be recorded.

The Sunderland lecture will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 9am on Wednesday, December 13 and available on BBC Sounds. It was chaired by journalist and broadcaster Anita Anand.

The Future of Solidarity is a highly topical theme which “explores whether we can develop a shared sense of belonging in today's polarised societies” - ie can we all work together?

Mssrs Davie, Ansell and Anand all spoke highly of the ongoing regeneration of the centre of Sunderland and were particularly impressed by The Fire Station itself.

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The annual Reith Lectures are named after BBC founding father John Reith, who famously declared the corporation’s purpose as being to “inform, educate, entertain”.

From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.
From left on The Fire Station stage: Anita Anand, Professor Ben Ansell and BBC Director-General Tim Davie.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie appeared at The Fire Station.BBC Director-General Tim Davie appeared at The Fire Station.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie appeared at The Fire Station.

The first Reith Lecture was delivered in 1948 by the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell. Other lecturers include Robert Oppenheimer, Stephen Hawking, Grayson Perry, Arnold Toynbee and Hilary Mantel.

The invited audience at The Fire Station comprised of North East figures including politicians and commentators from across the political spectrum, business leaders, students, academics - and the Sunderland Echo.

The lecture was followed by an audience Q & A session.

Related topics:BBC

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