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Tony Hall: "Far behind what was required"
Photo: BEN STANSALL / AFP
After the violent criticism of the BBC interview with Princess Diana in 1995, former BBC boss Tony Hall resigned as chairman of the National Gallery in London.
Remaining in office would detract from the accomplishments of the prestigious museum "which is so close to my heart," Hall said.
He apologized for the "events" at that time.
An independent investigation report by former Supreme Court Justice John Dyson had previously come to the conclusion that journalist Martin Bashir had fraudulently obtained his famous 1995 interview with Princess Diana.
Dyson also expressed criticism of an internal BBC investigation from 1996, which Bashir had acquitted of any wrongdoing at the time.
The investigation was "flawed and deplorably ineffective."
Hall, who, as the editor-in-chief at the time, had headed the internal investigation, admitted on Thursday that it was "far behind what was required."
It was "wrong" to "give Martin Bashir the leap of faith".
Hall had taken over the management of the BBC in 2013 and then took over as chairman of the National Gallery last July.
Following the revelations, Diana's sons William and Harry had violently attacked the public broadcaster.
The BBC's failure in its supervisory role "contributed significantly" to "fear, paranoia and isolation" of his mother in the last years of her life, criticized William.
His younger brother Harry made the interview jointly responsible for her mother's death.
In the memorable television interview in November 1995, Diana had indirectly blamed her husband Charles' affair with his current wife Camilla for the failure of their marriage.
They divorced the following year.
In 1997 the princess was on the run from paparazzi in a car accident in Paris.
whale / AFP
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