In the pantheon of BBC resignations, Greg Dyke still occupies the highest — or rather the lowest — point. It was January 2004, and an official inquiry had pulverised the broadcaster’s decision-making.

(The background: a loose-cannon reporter on Radio 4’s Today programme had accused Tony Blair’s government of having “sexed up” intelligence before invading Iraq. The government was furious. The reporter’s source, scientist David Kelly, tragically took his own life. BBC editors failed to interrogate the initial story properly.)

The BBC’s chair, a prominent Labour supporter, resigned straight after the inquiry’s report. Dyke, the director-general and formerly a party donor, found he lacked the board’s support. He was out within a few hours. Unconventionally for a BBC boss, he was popular. Hundreds of staff protested in solidarity. Everyone from independent-minded MPs to Radiohead singer Thom Yorke agreed that a vital part of Britain was under threat.