Donald H MacLean
a profile commissioned for a BBC internal publication
In the mid seventies Margaret broke the awful news that she was terminally ill and Donald told his boss that his hectic life commuting between Hollywood and Europe meant that he had neglected her - he proposed now to be with her for an increasing amount of her remaining time - which meant he could no longer be a Managing Director. The shrewd Mr Laister rejected his resignation and instead promoted him to Deputy Chairman with responsibility for long-term strategy and inter-industry relations.
Donald had become a computer addict, had brought home from California one of Britain's first Apple II computers, and had been pioneering online communication and "working from home". Margaret died on Christmas Eve almost 7 years later - during which time he had led the revision of Copyright Law to encompass video films and then computer software, had replaced the censorship of films with the classification process which is now standard, had chaired the Government's most difficult multi-industry representative body and had founded three national organisations which flourish today, listing him as Honorary President.
During his last year at the BBC he had been given the added responsibility of almost 1,000 salaried musicians throughout the UK with their supporting staff and music libraries. To cope with this extra administration he recruited as p.a. a young lady called Ann Phillips, fresh from college and a junior secretary in the office of the Chairman, Lord Hill. Ann joined him at EMI and was his presence at corporate Head Office during his increasing detachment during Margaret's decline. After her death it was Ann, a Cordon Bleu trained cook, who kept a watchful eye on his diet ("fish-in-the-bag is good occasionally - but not every day"), they became ever closer and after a little more than a year were married. As their many friends will attest, after 23 years there is no more devoted partnership.
In retirement Donald first created for the short-lived British Satellite Broadcasting company (BSB) an advanced system which enabled viewers automatically to implement the film classification system he had pioneered.