A CLITHEROE man who went on to become controller of BBC1 and is credited with the invention of the action replay has died at the age of 81.

Bryan Cowgill rose through the ranks of the BBC after joining as a production assistant in 1955, and was offered a seat on the board 22 years later.

But he instead took on the role of managing director of Thames TV, which he held for eight years.

The former Clitheroe Royal Grammar School pupil left education at the age of 15 to become a copy boy at the Lancashire Evening Post, where his father was a printer.

Aged 16, he joined the Royal Marines, becoming a Lieutenant in the 3rd Royal Marine Commando, and served in South East Asia during and after the second World War.

In 1947, he returned to Clitheroe to become a reporter at the Evening Post, before spending five years as editor of the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times.

At the BBC, his talents were quickly spotted and within two years he was producing Sportsview and Grandstand.

By the time he was 35, after just seven years at the BBC, he was made head of sport, and introduced slow-motion repeats, giving them the name “action replays” during coverage of the 1966 World Cup.

As BBC1 controller, his scheduling policy gave the channel the ratings lead over ITV for 18 consecutive months.

At the helm of Thames TV he secured his reputation as an uncompromising leader by making it the only one of all ITV’s centres to keep filling its schedules during a three-month strike by the powerful technicians’ union in 1979.

He also “poached” big-name stars including Morecambe and Wise, Kenny Everett and Mike Yarwood from the BBC to join Thames.

His brother John Cowgill, 77, who still lives in Clitheroe, said: "We've been close since my wife died and I visited him a lot. It's only two weeks since he was up here for the weekend and he seemed in good form. We had a wonderful weekend together.

"It was quite a shock when I had a phone call to tell me he had died."

Mr Cowgill, who lived in Stratford-upon Avon, died suddenly on Monday. No funeral date has yet been set.

He leaves his wife Jennifer, sons Tom and Jon, and four grandchildren.

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