Stephen Hearst CBE (born Stephen Hirshtritt; 6 October 1919 – 27 March 2010).Born in Vienna, the son of a dentist who was close to the Mahler family, Hearst had begun to study medicine, but fleeing from the Nazis became imperative after the Anschluss in 1938 had driven him underground because of his Jewish background and anti-fascist activities.The family settled in Britain, and after a brief period studying horticulture and being interned, Hearst served in the Pioneer Corps during the war. After demobilisation, he studied history at Brasenose College, Oxford.After working freelance on newsreel scripts, Hearst joined the BBC's staff in 1952,and moving over to documentaries where he continued writing their narration.After two years writing for programmes involving Richard Dimbleby, he was a writer-producer from 1955 to 1965, becoming executive producer of arts' programmes under Huw Wheldon, and then deputy to Humphrey Burton. In 1965.Hearst was responsible for developing the 'personal view' documentary format with Sir Compton Mackenzie's The Glory That Was Greece (1959) and several projects with the archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, In 1967 he became head of television arts features producinnnng Kenneth Clark's Civilisation (1969) and Alistair Cooke's America.
He remained the controller of Radio 3 until 1978, and then joined the BBC's Future Policy Group. In 1982, he was appointed as the special advisor of the new Director General Alasdair Milne, He became a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh.. Stephen Hearst died in London.
