Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC, will be speaking at Ideal Business Show Thames Valley at Newbury Racecourse later this month.

Dyke, one of the most influential figures in the British media in the last 20 years, will talk about the challenges of leadership, the shaking up of business structure and the management of organisational change in turbulent times on the opening day of the show, Tuesday April 29th.

He resigned from his director general post in 2004 in the wake of the Hutton report which accused the BBC of defective coverage and flawed live reporting of the controversial David Kelly affair but not before he had introduced revolutionary changes to the corporation.

Dyke reduced red-tape, pioneered the Freeview digital channels and set out to improve the cultural diversity of the BBC workforce and programmes, bringing them into alignment with the licence-paying audience.

Despite his unconventional approach to people management and his reputation for straight-talking, his huge popularitywas highlighted by thewidespread disappointment among staff, peers and those in other media when he resigned.