John Birt, Baron Birt

John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a former Director-General of the BBC who was in the post from 1992 to 2000.

After a successful career in commercial television, first at Granada Television and then at London Weekend Television, Birt was appointed Deputy Director-General of the BBC in 1987 for his current affairs expertise. The forced departure of Director-General Alasdair Milne following pressure from the Thatcher government required someone at the top, preferably from outside the BBC, with editorial and production experience (Milne had been summarily replaced by Michael Checkland, an accountant).

During his tenure as Director-General, Birt restructured the BBC, in the face of much internal opposition. However, others have credited him with saving the corporation from possible government sell-off, and say he properly equipped it to face the digital age. Birt was Strategic Advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2001 to 2005.

Birt was appointed Chairman of CPA Global in 2015.

John Birt (footballer)

John Birt (born 29 January 1937) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL.

Birt was a rover and after being recruited to Essendon from Ballarat, he made his VFL debut in 1957. The following year he had one of his finest seasons, finishing 6th in the Brownlow Medal and topping Essendon's goalkicking charts with 31 goals. He was a premiership player in 1962 and 1965 as well as playing in two losing Grand Finals, and won the W. S. Crichton Medal for his club's Best and Fairest in 1961, 1965 and 1967.

Birt was playing coach for West Torrens in the SANFL from 1968 - 1970.

He returned to Victoria to coach Essendon in 1971.

However, Essendon only won four games in the 1971 season. In 1972 he was replaced by Des Tuddenham.

Footscray then picked him up and he served as their assistant coach Between 1972 and 1976.

In 2002 an Essendon panel selected Birt as number twenty-one of the 25 "Champions of Essendon".

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John Birt (politician)

John Edward Birt (11 December 1873 – 21 June 1925) was an Australian politician.

He was born at Woolloomooloo in Sydney to seaman John Birt and Margaret, née McDonough. He was educated by the Marist Brothers in Darlinghurst before working in a grocery and then in retail stores. From 1904 he worked as a commercial traveller and later as a public service clerk, becoming involved with the Public Service Association. He was president of the Paddington Labour League, founded the Darlinghurst branch, and was a member of the executive from 1908 to 1910. In 1919 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Paddington. With the introduction of proportional representation in 1920 he became one of the members for Sydney, and served until his death at Darlinghurst in 1925.

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