From the start, John Reith wanted the BBC to innovate. The founding director-general of Britain’s public broadcaster said: “Give the public slightly better than it thinks it likes.”

As audience expectations have grown, the corporation has expanded into new areas. For some, this is worrying. Surely, goes the charge against us, a behemoth of our size can only stifle creative endeavour, crowd out rivals and prevent commercial innovation? I disagree: Britain is at the forefront of the worldwide surge in creative industries. And this is not despite the strength of our public service broadcaster. It is partly because of it.

Britain’s creative sector workforce has recently grown four times faster than the workforce as a whole. The UK is one of only three countries that are net exporters of music. It is also the biggest net exporter of TV formats: Dancing with the Stars is as much a phenomenon in the US as its parent, Strictly Come Dancing, is here. ITV’s recent success in drama with Downton Abbey and Broadchurch has done wonders for its balance sheet. Two of the top three newspaper websites in the world, as measured by unique user numbers – the Daily Mail and The Guardian – are British.