Life and death? No, Much more Important than that; How Sport turned into Big Business and a Global Obsession

The News International Visiting Professorship of Broadcast Media was established in 1996, as part of a generous benefaction from Rupert Murdoch. It is an annual appointment and the Professor will give at least 4 lectures during the academic year (usually in January/February).



2010's Visiting Professor is television and film producer Stephen Garrett, the man who brought Spooks and Life on Mars to our screens. Oxford alumnus Professor Garrett read jurisprudence at Merton College and is now Executive Chairman of Kudos Film and Television Ltd, one of Britain's premier television production companies.

His lectures explore the relationship between creativity and commerce through the prism of late 20th and early 21st century TV fiction on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 2011 Professor, Matthew Engel, the journalist and sports writer, gave a series of lectures entitled 'Please, mister, can we have our ball back? Sport, the media, and the people'