Government was determined to preserve the radio monopoly of the BBC by driving the “pirates” off the air.
In 1967, a young researcher named John Birt established his early reputation by persuading the rock star Mick Jagger to appear on World in Action to debate youth culture and his recent drug conviction, with Establishment figures, including William Rees-Mogg of The Times, who had written a famous editorial defending the singer. Jagger so enjoyed the experience that he invited the Granada team to film The Rolling Stones at the band’s free 1969 concert in Hyde Park, London. The resulting film, The Stones In The Park, was one of the iconic concert films of the Sixties. John Birt rapidly moved on to edit World in Action and eventually run the BBC as its Director-General.
The rise of Thatcherism and the misery of mass unemployment saw WIA examining the phenomenon through the