I was in and out of the BBC for more than 25 years, making regular appearances on its news channel. I was there at its uncertain, chaotic beginning as News 24 when the floor manager didn’t speak English and a paper review had to be done without papers because someone had forgotten to collect them.
I was there for the experiment of a live hookup between the paper review and Match of the Day to cover the sports pages. I know nothing about football, and that disaster was not repeated.
I was there on the March night in 2001 when the Real IRA blew up a TV centre with a car bomb. We were evacuated through the basement where the Dr Who monsters are kept - wondering, in passing, how on earth the Daleks would cope with the stairs in making their escape.
Over the years, I got to know the newsroom staff well. And I feel for them now that Donald Trump is threatening their jobs with a $1billion (£760million) lawsuit.
The US president has already got his pound of flesh for being traduced by Panorama with the resignations of BBC boss Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.
The doo-doo the BBC now finds itself in could have been avoided had it paid more heed to the dossier of failings compiled by Michael Prescott. We were colleagues when he was a political journalist, and his integrity is not in doubt.
To keep its position as the nation’s public service broadcaster, the BBC needs the trust of its audience and that has taken a severe knocking.
Now there is the additional accusation of institutional bias. It’s true most of the staff I encountered there leaned towards the left, though it’s only fair to add that none of the presenters ever made their politics known to me.
But producers and editors recognised the influence their personal opinions might have on their attitude to stories, and bent over backwards to keep them in check.
The BBC should inspire fury from politicians of all stripes. Be wary of the day it doesn't - Nigel Nelson
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They worked hard to make programmes balanced, so much so that minority views they privately disagreed with sometimes got a disproportionate amount of airtime as a result. Balance can be a tricky balancing act.
The 10-year charter renewal is now just around the corner.
It could not come at a worse time, with a perfect storm of stupid editorial mistakes. It means the BBC now faces an existential crisis. Which is why it needs to take a hard look at itself to decide what it is for, and where it fits in a broadcast landscape very different to the one a decade ago.
The licence fee is under threat, and not just because evasion has gone up from seven per cent to more than 11 per cent in five years.
At the very least, a new way needs to be found to collect it. A broadband levy, say. Or, if we want a licence based on ability to pay, link it to council tax with variable rates based on property bands.
But the BBC may be asked to find its money in a different way altogether. It should start with looking at how it spends it. I’ll give one example. I enjoy Professor Brian Cox’s science programmes. He has an engaging way of making the complexities of the universe simple.
But is there any need for the BBC to plonk him at huge expense on top of a mountain at the far end of the world to do it? Or hire a pricey helicopter to film him while he’s up there?
Much of what he has to say could be delivered equally well from an armchair in New Broadcasting House with a few props borrowed from Blue Peter.
News, current affairs and documentaries should be impartial and informative with no underlying agenda, and to ensure that, clumsy in-house regulation will have to go. That won’t stop people complaining. I’ve known both Tory and Labour governments get in a fury with the BBC, and that’s how it should be.
Independent broadcasters should always be a thorn in the side of whichever party is in power. And whatever happens, children’s programming and local radio should be preserved.
As for other stuff, such as drama that may need to go pay-to-view. In that way, the BBC could match the production quality of Netflix or Apple TV.
The extra that would raise could do great scripts proud. Take the recent series of Wolf Hall. It was fine on the halls, but irritatingly lacking in big, busy external locations. And there must have been relief all round when there was no call for wolves.
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