IT CAME as no surprise when the now, utterly discredited BBC journalist, Martin Bashir, resigned ‘due to ill health’ just a few days before the findings of Lord Dyson’s investigation into Bashir’s now infamous Panorama interview with Princess Diana were made public.

Lord Dyson's findings are another scathing indictment of a once-respected institution that has been out of control for some time and is still reeling from its failure to take action against another of its highly-paid posterboys, the infamous paedophile Jimmy Saville, who got away, like Bashir, with his wrongdoings because of the utter failure by BBC bosses to take action.

The BBC, until recently widely respected throughout the world for open, balanced and honest reporting, has taken a severe battering and the job of putting it back on track faced by its new director general, Tim Davie, may well prove to be great deal more difficult than that faced by Hercules when he was tasked with cleaning the Augean stables.