Review. Baudelaire the Damned. A Biography. Hemmings, F. W. J.

Crossing Broadcasters: The Transatlantic Exchange Between Sylvester ‘Pat’ Weaver and Sir Ian Jacob, 1955–1956

“…43 However, for all of Jacob's 'ability to manipulate the levers of Whitehall', such plans were rejected, and commercial broadcasting was introduced in Britain, and with remarkable speed. 44 While historical accounts duly stress how British commercial television differs in important aspects from the US system (favouring spot advertising over the sponsorship system, coupled with an import quota), what deserves more consideration is the US influence and pressure behind this pushing through of commercial television in Britain, from which the BBC audience members of Weaver's speech were smarting. What ultimately drove through legislation for commercial television was a small handful of Conservative MPs.…”