What they said about... Tony Hall

Charlotte Higgins of the Guardian, on the appointment of the boss of the Royal Opera House as new director-general of the BBC: “When Tony Hall took on 
the Royal Opera House in 2001, his was a name that came out of the blue. Well known in media circles as the head of BBC news, nicknamed “the prefect” for his efficiency, he had absolutely no experience in the arts. He arrived in the cultural world an unknown quantity – and leaves it one of its most respected and well liked administrators.”

Anonymous former colleague at Royal Opera House: “He’s super-smart, very well read, a great diplomat and great at looking above the current concerns to see the big picture. My one doubt is he was always moving on to the next big idea and never really tackled certain entrenched ways of doing things.”

Leader column, The Scotsman: “He needs to be bold and radical immediately – and have a steely determination to push through change against well-entrenched resistance.”

Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph: “At Covent Garden, Hall has been terrific. But he has also proved himself a consummate apparatchik, of whom Machiavelli would have been proud.”

Leader column, Daily Mail: “The Mail wishes new director general Tony Hall luck, but the omens aren’t great. His 20 years at the BBC coincided with some of its worst periods of left-wing bias, anti-Euroscepticism and censorship of debate on immigration.” «