Roly Keating
Roly Keating | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Keating in 2013 | |
| Born | Roland Francis Kester Keating 5 August 1961 |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Westminster School |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Title | Controller of BBC Four (2002–2004) Controller of BBC Two (2004–2008) Director of Archive Content, BBC (2008–2012) Director of The British Library (2012–present) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Sir Roland Francis Kester Keating (born 5 August 1961) is Chief Executive of the British Library. He took up his post in September 2012.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Keating was born on 5 August 1961 to Donald Norman Keating and Betty Katharine Keating (née Wells).[2] He was educated at Westminster School, an independent school for boys in London, and then read classics at Balliol College, Oxford.[citation needed]
Career[edit]
BBC[edit]
Keating joined the BBC in 1983. He was a producer and director for the Arts and Music department, making programmes for Omnibus, Bookmark (1992–97) and Arena. He was a producer and later became editor of The Late Show. In 1997, he became head of programming for UKTV, partly owned by the BBC. In 1999, he became the BBC Controller of Digital Channels. In 2000, he also took on the responsibility of Controller of Arts Commissioning. He became the Controller of digital television station BBC Four in December 2001, masterminding its launch on 2 March 2002. In 2003, he was also joint leader of the BBC's Charter Review project for six months. He became the channel controller for BBC Two in June 2004,[3] a position he held until 2008. He was appointed temporary controller of BBC One following Peter Fincham's resignation[4] on 5 October 2007.
While Controller, he said that he wanted to see BBC Two be the first mainstream British TV channel to be available on broadband.[5] His decision to screen Jerry Springer: The Opera on 8 January 2005 forced him to go into hiding, and he was given security protection.[6]
Keating was previously Director of Archive Content for the BBC.[7]
British Library[edit]
He was announced as chief executive designate of the British Library in May 2012, to succeed Dame Lynne Brindley.
As of 2015, Keating was paid a salary of between £155,000 and £159,999 by the British Library, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[8] In February 2023, the Library had proposed a £500m community expansion, which would incorporate new galleries, event spaces, a community garden and the Alan Turing Institute of data science. [9]
Keating was knighted in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to literature.[10]
Personal life[edit]
In 1989, Keating married Caroline Russell.[2] Together they have three children; one son and two daughters.[2]
British Library cyberattack response[edit]
In an interview with Jonathan Moules of the Financial Times he exclaimed a "degree of upset, of anger” over the most serious crisis the Library had encountered in decades.[11] Having not paid the £590k ransom to the ransomware group, Rhysida,[11] the Library first paid £250k to the NCC group in order to provide an initial response to the attack with its unallocated reserves now being applied for its recovery. The cost is estimated to be between £6-7mn. [12]
Writing on the British Library blog in December 2023, Keating said '...Although this kind of attack was something we had prepared for and rehearsed, and had taken steps to guard against, it was no less of a shock when it happened.'[13]
By January 2024 the latest update stated '...At the time the hackers hit we were embarking on a significant round of fresh investment in our core technology infrastructure, as part of the Knowledge Matters strategy we launched last May.' [14]
it was described by one reader to the Guardian as a '22-carat' disaster.[15] Speaking to the New Yorker, writer for the London Review of Books, Inigo Thomas said “It’s like a sort of institutional stroke,"[16]
References[edit]
- ^ A & C Black (2012). "KEATING, Roland Francis Kester, (Roly)". Who's Who 2012 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ a b c "KEATING, Roland Francis Kester, (Roly)". Who's Who 2016. Oxford University Press. November 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ^ "BBC – Press Office – Roly Keating named BBC TWO Controller". BBC. 14 May 2004.
- ^ "BBC – Press Office – Peter Fincham resigns as Controller, BBC One". BBC. 5 October 2007.
- ^ "BBC Two 'first to go broadband'". BBC. 8 February 2006. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "Another shameful case of religious intolerance". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
- ^ "BBC – Press Office – Roly Keating appointed as Director of Archive Content". BBC. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ Shaffi, Sarah (3 February 2023). "Green light given for huge British Library extension". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N2.
- ^ a b "How the British Library's Roly Keating managed a major cyber attack". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "British Library to burn through reserves to recover from cyber attack". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ Keating, Roly (15 December 2023). "'Knowledge under attack'". British Library. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ Keating, Roly (10 January 2024). "'Restoring our services – an update'". British Library. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ Sherwood, Harriet (15 January 2024). "'A 22-carat disaster': what next for British Library staff and users after data theft?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ Knight, Sam (19 December 2023). "The Disturbing Impact of the Cyberattack at the British Library". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
