View source for Tom Sloan (television executive)

{{Short description|British broadcaster and journalist (1919–1970)}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Tom Sloan
| honorific-suffix={{small|[[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]}}
| image = 
| order = [[BBC]] Head of Light Entertainment
|term_start         = November 1961
|term_end           = May 1970
|predecessor        = [[Eric Maschwitz]]
|successor          = [[Bill Cotton]]
|birthname=Thomas James Harman Sloan
|birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1919|10|14}}
|birth_place=Hertfordshire, England
|death_date={{Death date and age|df=yes|1970|05|13|1919|10|14}}
|death_place=London, England
|nationality=British
}}

'''Thomas James Harman Sloan''' {{Post-nominals|size=100%|Country=GBR|OBE}}<ref>https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44740/supplement/13/data.pdf {{Bare URL PDF |date=December 2021}}</ref><ref>British Film and Television Yearbook, 1970, ed. Peter Noble, p. 337</ref> (14 October 1919 – 13 May 1970) was a British broadcaster and journalist and BBC Head of Light Entertainment in the 1960s.

==Early life==
Sloan was born in [[Hertfordshire]], England, the son of a Scottish Free Church Minister, and educated at [[Dulwich College]]. He entered the [[BBC]] Sound Effects Department in 1939, but left at the start of [[World War II]] to serve in the [[Royal Artillery]] throughout the war.<ref name="Obituary" /> He married Patricia Coverdale in 1943 and had four children.

==Broadcasting career==
In 1946 he returned to [[BBC]] radio as a talks producer and spent several years as the BBC's representative in Canada. In 1956 he joined the BBC Light Entertainment group, under [[Ronnie Waldman]]. During this period, he provided the British commentary for the [[Eurovision Song Contest]]s in [[Eurovision Song Contest 1957|1957]], [[1958 Eurovision Song Contest|1958]] and later the [[1964 Eurovision Song Contest|1964]] on radio ([[BBC Light Programme]]), and in [[1959 Eurovision Song Contest|1959]], [[1961 Eurovision Song Contest|1961]] and [[1968 Eurovision Song Contest|1968]] on BBC Television.

In 1961 he was appointed Head of Light Entertainment, taking over from [[Eric Maschwitz]] (who became Assistant Controller of Programmes).<ref>Mr. E. Maschwitz's New Post, ''[[The Times]]'', p13, published 14 November 1961</ref> One of his first tasks was to attempt to hold on to one of the BBC's biggest stars of the time, [[Tony Hancock]]. After he failed to persuade Hancock to sign a [[golden handcuffs]] deal designed to prevent him defecting to [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] or the cinema, he wrote a confidential memo to the BBC Controller of Programmes on 13 April 1962, stating "Hancock is a moody perfectionist with a great interest in money and no sense of loyalty to the corporation". He added that nothing short of handing over entire "production control" to Hancock and paying him an unprecedented £150,000 – the equivalent of £2m today – for a further 13 episodes of his TV sitcom would be enough to persuade him to stay with the BBC.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100522031722/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbc-bosses-wrote-off-tony-hancock-as-a-moody-perfectionist-obsessed-with-money-755082.html "BBC bosses wrote off Tony Hancock as a 'moody perfectionist obsessed with money'"], ''[[The Independent]]'', published online 31 October 2004. Retrieved 5 July 2011</ref> In the autumn of 1961 he approached Hancock's writers, [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]], with the idea of a series called ''[[Comedy Playhouse]]''.<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book	
|last= Stevens	
|first= Christopher
|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams
|publisher= John Murray
|year= 2010
|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5
|page=390
}}</ref> He had ten half-hour slots and asked them to fill them with anything they wanted, insisting only that his title of ''Comedy Playhouse'' be used.<ref>''Steptoe and Son'' by [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]] with Robert Ross, BBC Books, published 2002</ref> The fourth episode of the series, broadcast on 5 January 1962, was entitled ''The Offer'' and starred [[Harry H. Corbett]] and [[Wilfrid Brambell]] as [[Steptoe and Son]]. Sloan badgered [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]] to write a series of ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' episodes,<ref name="Stevens"/> which were broadcast between May and June 1962. A further seven series, totalling 57 episodes, would eventually be made between 1962 and 1974.

In his post as Head of Light Entertainment, Sloan provided viewers with a tougher and socially more critical view of comedy than was available before. The polite, middle-class humour which had previously limited the BBC's vision of what television amusement should offer, was supplemented with the social realism of comedies such as ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' and ''[[Till Death Us Do Part]]''.  Sloan once said, "Comedy ought to reflect life. It is at its best when it does this. I've no intention of giving viewers a marzipan view of life".<ref name="Obituary">Obituary: Mr Tom Sloan, ''[[The Times]]'', 14 May 1970, p.12</ref> It was later claimed that Sloan attempted to invert the BBC's founding principles of "education, information and entertainment", giving priority to entertainment, followed by information and education. This was considered acceptable because entertainment, to him, meant not only what was cheerfully relaxing but also what was vigorous, thoughtful, stimulating and downright disturbing. He found the writers and the stars to provide and embody what he wanted, and created a space and audience for them.<ref name="Obituary" />

Sloan held the post of Head of Light Entertainment for nine years. In this time he saw the BBC's output of light entertainment programmes dramatically increase. In 1955 BBC Light Entertainment had just six producers and turned out five programmes a week. By 1969, Sloan had thirty-four producers under him, responsible for sixteen programmes a week on two channels. In a lecture given in December 1969, he said "If I drop dead tomorrow, I would not mind being remembered for having some responsibility at least for ''[[The Black and White Minstrel Show]]'', ''[[Hancock's Half Hour|Hancock]]'', ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'', ''[[Till Death Us Do Part]]'', ''[[Harry Worth]]'', ''[[Not in Front of the Children (TV series)|Not in Front of the Children]]'', ''[[Dad's Army]]'', ''[[Val Doonican]]'' and ''[[Rolf Harris]]'' shows, and ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]''". During his nine years as Head of Light Entertainment his production group carried off every major professional award in show business, including seven awards at the Montreux International Festival.<ref name="Obituary" /> He was created an [[Order of the British Empire|Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)]] in the 1969 New Year Honours list. His last project was the Royal Television Gala, recorded on the day of his death.

==Death==
Sloan died on 13 May 1970, while still in his post as Head of Light Entertainment. He was succeeded by [[Bill Cotton]]. A memorial service was held in [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] in the [[City of Westminster]], London on Tuesday 23 June 1970. [[Harry Secombe]] read the lesson and [[Huw Wheldon]] (managing director of BBC Television) gave the address.<ref>Memorial Service: Mr. Tom Sloan, ''[[The Times]]'', p12, published 24 June 1970</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|1285262}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/people/59/49.shtml Tom Sloan references at the BBC Archives]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloan, Tom}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:British television executives]]
[[Category:BBC television producers]]
[[Category:BBC radio producers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]