James Broom Millar

James Broom Millar OBE was a British Foreign Service personnel, a World War II veteran, and Media executive. He was the Director General of the Gold Coast Broadcasting Service from 1954 to 1957 and the  Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation from 1957 to 1960. He was consequently the first Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.[1][2][3]

James Broom Millar
1st Director-General of the GBC
In office
1954–1969
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterKwame Nkrumah
(Prime Minister and head of Government Business)
GovernorCharles Noble Arden-Clarke
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byWilliam Frank Kobina Coleman
Personal details
Born
James Broom Millar

1909
Baldernock, Stirling, Scotland
Died19 August 1986(1986-08-19) (aged 76–77)
NationalityBritish
Education
Alma materSt. John's College, Cambridge
OccupationGeneral Manager & Director-General of the GBC (1954–1957)

Early life and education

Millar was born in 1909 at Baldernock, Stirling.[4] He was the first child of four children, and his father was an architect.[4] He was educated at Kelvinside Academy, Loretto School, and St. John's College, Cambridge,[5] for his tertiary education, where he studied economics under the tutelage of John Maynard Keynes.[4] He graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1930.[6]

Career

Following his studies at Cambridge, Millar joined the staff of George Morton and Company (his grandfather's business in Glasgow).[4] In 1938 he was employed by the British Foreign Office due to his knowledge in French and German.[4][7] He was sent to Berlin in Germany, and later Zagreb in Croatia.[8] There, he was made vice consul at the beginning of the second world war.[8] When the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, Millar was made liaison officer to the Yugoslav partisans due to his knowledge of Germany.[8] He was also made liaison officer the Middle East and later in Bari, Italy.[8][9] In Italy, Millar was responsible for training troops for parachute jumping and also improve relations with partisans. He stayed in Bari until 1945.[9][10]

In 1946, Millar was employed by the British Broadcasting Corporation's Eastern European Service as a Programme Organiser, he later became an Assistant Head of the Service.[7][9] He left for Yugoslavia in 1948 to study and understand the broadcasting needs of under-developed territories.[9][11] The Colonial Office at the time was focused on improving broadcasting and a special post of Broadcasting Officer was created.[11] Millar applied to be seconded in 1949, as he recalled, "I must say I never expected to get it".[11] He however gained the appointment and became very keen on overseeing broadcasting schemes under Colonial Development and Welfare funds.[11] He worked together with Tom Chalmers the then Director of Broadcasting in Nigeria upon secondment by the British Broadcasting Corporation.[11]

Millar returned to the administrative side of the British Broadcasting Corporation as a Senior Administrative Assistant, External Broadcasting in 1951.[12] When an opening came along for Director of the Gold Coast Broadcasting Service, he was seconded by the British Broadcasting Corporation to take up the position on 1 August 1954.[13][14][15][16] Upon his secondment for the post, broadcasting had grown from under the wing of the Department of Information (which was then responsible for everything related to broadcasting in the Gold Coast) to become a department on its own.[16] Millar served as the Director of the Gold Coast Broadcasting Service from 1954 until 1957 when the department was renamed the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation upon Ghana's independence.[16][17] Millar then became the Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation from 1957 to 1960.[7][18][19][20][21] He was succeeded by William Frank Kobina Coleman.

Death

Millar died on 19 August 1986 in Sierra Leone.[6][22]

See also

References
  1. Ghartey-Tagoe, David Kwesi (2010-07-28). David Ghartey-Tagoe: A Broadcast Icon. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4535-4207-1.
  2. Hickey, Raymond (2017-04-20). Listening to the Past: Audio Records of Accents of English. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-05157-7.
  3. Embil, Frank E. (1980). Television and National Cultural Stabilization in Ghana. University of Wisconsin--Madison.
  4. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 1959.
  5. Cambridge, University of (1950). Register.
  6. "The Eagle 1987". St John's College, Cambridge - University of Cambridge.
  7. Woddis, Jack (1961). Africa, the Lion Awakes. Lawrence & Wishart.
  8. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 1959.
  9. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 1959.
  10. "Aiding The Partisans: Air Force, Part 52". Legion Magazine. 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  11. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 1959.
  12. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 1959.
  13. Ghana Year Book. Graphic Corporation. 1962.
  14. E.B.U. Review: General and legal. B. Administrative Office of the E.B.U. 1963.
  15. Guest, Africa in Words (2015-01-28). "'This is literary achievement; where is yours?' Radio Ghana's 'The Singing Net' 60 years on". Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  16. "West Africa". West Africa Publishing Company, Limited: 677. 1959.
  17. Machinery Lloyd. Continental and Overseas Organisation Limited. 1959.
  18. Ghana Today. Information Section, Ghana Office. 1957.
  19. The Commonwealth Year Book. Europa Publications. 1958.
  20. Collected Seminar Papers. 1994. ISBN 978-1-85507-063-9.
  21. Studies, University of London Institute of Commonwealth (1994). Multiculturalism and the state. University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies. ISBN 978-1-85507-063-9.
  22. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company Limited. 1986.
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