MAKING A NOISE

'I decided that BBC External Services at Bush House was the place for my long-term career. I got a job as Producer, Current Affairs and Overseas Talks and Features, and began my full-time established, pensionable BBC career in the autumn of 1962. The next three and a bit years were intense as events like the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 threatened the very world we lived in... Annie and I clung together in the bathroom of our house in Pimlico listening horror-struck to the President. [Jack Kennedy]. During the night, woken by the noise of traffic on the Embankment, I was convinced it was the start of the London population's exodus to avoid nuclear extinction.' Over almost 60 years, John Tusa has fought for and sometimes against the major arts and political institutions in the country. 'The BBC sections are totally enthralling and horrifying in equal measure' says Graham Sheffield formerly of the British Council. A distinguished journalist, broadcaster and leader of arts organisations, Tusa has stood up publicly for the independence of the BBC, the need for public funding of the arts, and for the integrity of universities. His recollections of a hilarious and petty-minded few months as head of a Cambridge college will be read as a case study in the absurdities of academic life. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1936, John became main presenter with Peter Snow of BBC2's Newsnight from its foundation in 1980. From 1986-92 he was Managing Director of BBC World Service and from 1995 to 2007 Managing Director at the Barbican Centre, at the time rejected and maligned, he led its recovery into the major cultural centre that it is today. From the battles to create Newsnight to six years defending the BBC World Service from political interference, Tusa's account is etched with candour. His record of two years of internecine warfare at the top of the BBC under the Chairman 'Dukey' Hussey will go down as a major contribution to BBC history. The sub-title of his book is 'Getting It Right, Getting It Wrong in Life, the Arts and Broadcasting' and Tusa recalls why he has been called a 'bastard', 'antichrist', and a 'contaminant' for his many campaigns. Why? Because he made a noise. 392pp, many illus, paperback.