Television executive, who became a controversial Director-General of the BBC. Born India, the son of a surgeon from Aberdeen and a mother who was raised in Edinburgh. Milne spent his first six years living with his maternal grandparents in Morningside, until his parents returned from India. He moved to Kent and was educated in England. He joined the BBC in 1954 as a graduate trainee, but quickly rose to become a respected editor and producer, responsible for programmes such as That Was the Week That Was (1962-63), Tonight (1963), The Great War (1964) and This Week (1965-66). He was also responsible for bring a succession of Shakespeare plays to television. He became Controller of BBC Scotland (1968-73), creating a separate identity for the BBC in Scotland and later expanding Gaelic programming, BBC Director of Programmes (1973-76) and Managing Director of BBC Television (1976-82). He was appointed Director-General in 1982 and found himself at the centre of a series of controversies and battles with the government, including the embarrassing questioning of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by a member of the public over the sinking if the Argentinian ship the General Belgrano, the decision to broadcast a controversial Panorama documentary title Maggie's Militant Tendency in 1984, an interview with IRA chief Martin McGuinness in 1985, the BBC's coverage of the bombing of Libya by the USA and a documentary which again embarrassed the government over the building and cancellation of the Zircon spy satellite (1987), which resulted in the BBC being raided by the police. Milne was ignominiously forced to resign by the BBC Chairman, Marmaduke Hussey, who was a strong supporter of the Government. Despite expectations, he never took up other media positions and received little public recognition for his remarkable career. Milne spent his free time fishing and shooting in Scotland.
