22 Facts About Alan Yentob

Alan Yentob was born on 11 March 1947 and is a BBC presenter and retired British television executive.

Alan Yentob stepped down as Creative Director in December 2015, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the charity Kids Company from 2003 until its collapse in 2015.

Alan Yentob was born into an Iraqi Jewish family in Stepney, London.

Alan Yentob grew up in Didsbury, a suburb of Manchester, and returned to London with his family when he was 12 to live in a flat on Park Lane.

Alan Yentob was a boarder at the independent school King's Ely in Cambridgeshire.

Alan Yentob passed his A Levels and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and spent a year at Grenoble University.

Alan Yentob went on to study law at Leeds University, where he got involved in student drama.

Alan Yentob graduated with a lower second class degree in 1967.

Alan Yentob left Arena to become the BBC's head of Music and Arts, a position he occupied until 1987, when he was promoted to controller of BBC 2, one of the youngest channel controllers in the BBC's history.

Alan Yentob remained in the post for three years until 1996, when he was promoted again to become BBC Television's overall Director of Programmes.

Alan Yentob occupied this post until June 2004, when new BBC Director-General Mark Thompson re-organised the BBC's executive committee and promoted Yentob to the new post of BBC Creative Director, responsible for overseeing BBC creative output across television, radio and interactive services.

One episode of Imagine had Alan Yentob explore the World Wide Web, blogging, user-created content, and even the use of English Wikipedia, exploring people's motives and satisfaction that can be had from sharing information on such a large scale.

In 2007, Alan Yentob appeared as the 'host' of the satirical Imagine a Mildly Amusing Panel Show, a spoof Imagine.

Alan Yentob was warned not to do this again, but otherwise not disciplined, much to the disgruntlement of some who had seen more junior staff lose their jobs for lesser misdemeanours.

In 2005, Alan Yentob was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from De Montfort University, Leicester.

Alan Yentob has been on the board of trustees of the Architecture Foundation.

Alan Yentob has been involved with several charities, including the posts of chairman and trustee of Kids Company.

Alan Yentob resigned as the BBC's creative director on 3 December 2015 in the wake of allegations that he had sought to influence the BBC's coverage of the Kids Company scandal.

Alan Yentob vigorously defended his actions and stated in August 2015 that he was "not remotely considering" resigning over his behaviour.

Alan Yentob telephoned a senior member of staff at Newsnight, asking the programme to "delay a report critical of financial management at Kids Company", and telephoned the Radio 4 presenter Ed Stourton before a report in The World at One.

Alan Yentob has acknowledged signing an email from Kids Company to the government which sought millions in further funding by suggesting certain communities in London might "descend into savagery" if Kids Company ceased its operations.

Alan Yentob was described as someone who condoned excessive spending and lacked proper attention to his duties.