Father of Archie Bland; husband of Lady Bland; stepfather of William Byng, 9th Earl of Stafford, Georgia Byng and Jamie Byng
Sir Francis Christopher Buchan Bland (29 May 1938 – 28 January 2017) was a British businessman and politician. He was deputy chairman of the Independent Television Authority (1972), which was renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the same year, and chairman of London Weekend Television (1984) and of the Board of Governors of the BBC (1996 to 2001), when he took up a position as chairman of British Telecommunications plc (BT). He left his position with BT in September 2007. Before leaving BT, he became chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 2004.[1]
Bland held many concurrent chairmanships and directorships, including chairman of Century Hutchinson Group (1984), the Edinburgh-based Canongate Publishing, the National Freight Corporation, known as NFC PLC (1994), and Life Sciences International PLC (1987), and Directorship of National Provident (1978), and Storehouse PLC (1988) among others.[1]
Bland had a long-standing interest in the cultivation of wine, and in 1995 bought a 19th-century house with a large wine cellar containing numbered alcoves to accommodate 1,000 bottles of Bordeaux, 100 bottles of Champagne, and 120 bins of white Burgundy. Two years later, he bought a small vineyard next to his home in Gascony in France, planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, producing about 1,000 litres a year.[2] He was chairman of Leiths School of Food and Wine, which he bought jointly with Caroline Waldegrave in 1994.[3]
^ abWho's Who – Sir Christopher Bland Archived 31 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
^Guy Woodward, "My Passion for Wine: Sir Christopher Bland", Decanter.com, 15 February 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
^The Team: Sir Christopher Bland Archived 25 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine Leiths School of Food and Wine. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
Sir Francis Christopher Buchan Bland (29 May 1938 – 28 January 2017) was a British businessman and politician. He was deputy chairman of the Independent...
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