Bryan Cowgill

George Bryan Cowgill (27 May 1927 – 14 July 2008) was an English television executive and producer. He began as a copy boy with the Lancashire Evening Post in Preston before working as an editor of the weekly newspaper Clitherone Advertiser and Times in Clitheroe. At the BBC, he was Head of Sport for BBC Television from 1963 to 1973, Controller of BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, and Managing Director of Thames Television from 1977 to 1985. Cowgill also worked as deputy chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers. He was also chairman of United Press International Television News and a director of Independent Television News (ITN). Cowgill was a fellow of the Royal Television Society.

Early life Cowgill was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire on 27 May 1927, the son of the printer and stationer John Clifford Cowgill and his wife Ada Gertrude . He had a brother. Between 1938 and 1942, Cowgill became a copy boy with the Lancashire Evening Post in Preston, where his grandfather was a printer.

Career After Cowgill was demobbed in 1947, he rejoined the Evening Post as a reporter and feature writer, and then from 1950 to 1955 he edited the local weekly paper Clitherone Advertiser and Times in Clitheroe. He joined the BBC on 22 September 1955 as a trainee production assistant in the corporation's Outside Broadcasting Department. In 1957, Cowgill was asked by the BBC's director of outside broadcasting (television) Peter Dimmock to produce the midweek sports magazine programme Sportsview. In this capacity, he introduced the weekly football highlights programme Match of the Day in 1964, Sportsnight in 1968 and BBC2's Sunday cricket coverage . During his tenure the BBC covered an increasing number of ambitious sporting events, including organising extensive coverage as host broadcaster of the 1966 World Cup and showing coverage live by satellite from Mexico of both the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1970 World Cup and the 1972 Summer Olympics from West Germany. His work won him three BAFTAs for the 1960 Summer Olympics, the 1966 World Cup and the 1968 Summer Olympics. In October 1969, Cowgill became head of a new department that was formed by the amalgamation of the television events and television sports departments that began in 1970. Upon its introduction at the 1966 World Cup, In April 1974, However, he rejected the offer made to him by Ian Trethowan, the Director-General of the BBC, Cowgill lured Morecambe and Wise and Mike Yarwood away from the BBC,

In 1984, Cowgill, in a foretaste of changes to come within the industry, successfully resisted demands by the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) union for additional payments to use new technology, by maintaining a reduced service while the other ITV contractors met demands for a 20% rise in pay. During Cowgill's tenure at Thames Television he tried to acquire the popular 1980s American soap opera Dallas, which had previously been associated with the BBC, abandoning a gentleman's agreement not to poach purchased programming. Other ITV companies refused to show Dallas if Thames retained it, and this led to Cowgill's resignation on 12 July 1985 at the age of 58. In December, Cowgill was appointed deputy chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers with responsibility for cable and satellite television, radio and video from 1 January 1986. In 1986, he made an appearance on Tyne-Tees Television networked programme Face The Press. His autobiography, Mr Action Replay, was written with Dale le Vack and published in 2006.

Personal life He was known as "Ginger" for his hair colour and temperament. Cowgill died in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire of an heart attack on 14 July 2008.