John McMillan

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A biography of general manager John McMillan

On 4 November 1965, Rediffusion Television shuffled its board of directors. The next edition of house magazine ‘Fusion’ gave these biographical details of the new members.


john-mcmillanJohn McMillan, general manager, was born in Sydney, Australia on January 29, 1915. He was educated at Scots College, Sydney, in which city he began work after leaving school.

He has successively been engineering draughtsman, magazine publisher, author, radio announcer, salesman, radio programme producer, gramophone record manager, film producer, soldier, sound broadcasting executive, television producer, programme controller and general manager. His first broadcasting job was on Station 2GB in Sydney. He emigrated from Australia to England in 1934 and joined the International Broadcasting Company Limited as a sales executive and later managed its programme production subsidiary – Universal Programmes Corporation Limited. After leaving that company he managed a gramophone recording subsidiary of Electrical and Musical Industries Limited and produced a film for Warner Bros. He joined the horse cavalry as a trooper and was later commissioned as an infantry officer in the 2nd Battalion The South Wales Borderers. In 1944 he was transferred to the War Office as a staff officer (Broadcasting). Subsequently he planned, mobilised and commanded No. 1 Field Broadcasting Unit which operated in north-west Europe and eventually established the British Forces Network in Germany.

On being demobilised in 1946 he joined the BBC as an assistant to the controller of the light programme and then became chief assistant until he resigned in 1952. He spent some time in American television and has been with independent television in this country from the beginning. He was general manager elect of Kemsley-Winnick Television and joined Rediffusion late in 1955. He became controller of programmes early in 1956, and general manager on January 1, 1964. He is now a citizen of the United Kingdom.

About the author

'Fusion' was the quarterly staff magazine for Associated-Rediffusion and Rediffusion Television employees.

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