Transnational Relations between the BBC and the WDR (1960-1969): The Central Roles of Hugh Greene and Klaus Von Bismarck

This paper addresses the relationship between the BBC Director-General Hugh Carleton Greene and the director of the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR) Klaus von Bismarck between 1960 and 1969. The thrust of the article is to point out the great potential of evaluating interpersonal relationships and their contribution to European perspectives on television history. The research is situated within transnational television historiography and it argues that the relationship between the two key personalities is manifested in multiple interdependencies, exchanges, visits and correspondences that exemplify the long-term British impact on the German broadcasting system as well as the bilateral cordial relations between the BBC and the WDR.