Sir Christopher Bland, who died on 28 January, aged 78, was one of the most influential broadcasters of the past 40 years. 

He chaired London Weekend Television, the BBC and British Telecom. In addition, he served as deputy chairman of the IBA.

Bland was a regular speaker at RTS events, an authoritative contributor to the Society’s Cambridge Convention, a Fleming lecturer and more than willing to participate in other RTS activities. He was always pithy and wryly humorous, known for speaking his mind and not suffering fools.

At LWT, he was pivotal in forwarding the career of Greg Dyke and designing the so-called “golden handcuffs” scheme that kept key talent such as Dyke and Melvyn Bragg at LWT during the game of poker that was the 1991 franchise round.

He was hugely loyal to LWT and said the worst day of his life was when the company fell to a hostile takeover by rival Granada.

The aristocratic and patrician Bland looked every inch the imposing, successful, multimillionaire City financier that he was. He was born to Northern Irish gentry and sent to boarding school in Cumbria.

Later, he did national service with the Royal Inniskilling Dragoons before reading history at Oxford. He fenced for Ireland at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Bland wanted to become a journalist but was rejected for three journalistic jobs, including a BBC traineeship.

He went into business, but did edit Crossbow, the magazine of the moderate Conservative Bow Group, which he chaired from 1969 to 1970.

In 1967, he was elected to the Greater London Council. It was one of his Conservative contacts, Christopher Chataway, the minister for posts and telecommunications, who invited him to become deputy chairman of the IBA in 1972.

He soon discovered, in his early thirties and not owning a TV set, a passion for broadcasting.

John Freeman, then Chairman of LWT, recruited Bland after meeting him at the IBA. The supremely confident London weekend broadcaster was one of ITV’s most forward-looking companies.

Bland was appointed Chairman in 1984, and worked with such television luminaries as Brian Tesler and John Birt.

“Christopher was hugely enjoyable to work with – amusing, decisive and quick to learn,” wrote Birt in his autobiography, The Harder Path. “Like me, he loved his fun, and organised jolly escapades for his friends.… He was passionate, open and honest.”

But the new chairman and brilliant businessman was famous for his short fuse.

He hated it when people were late for an appointment. “Even one minute’s unpunctuality would draw steam from his ears,” said Birt.

“When annoyed, he could suddenly and unexpectedly bite you badly.… Slow or inarticulate people – as well as the successful and powerful – could suffer a terrible, searing mauling.”

Bland modernised LWT, cutting costs, reducing staff and focusing on the core business of TV. His “golden handcuffs” scheme, in which key personnel invested in the franchise bid in return for big gains if LWT prevailed, was regarded as a master-stroke by City watchers.

The company’s low bid succeeded because the rival consortium, London Independent Broadcasting, failed to pass the quality threshold. LWT had triumphed.

But, three years later, Granada launched a takeover bid and, following much bitterness (Bland considered risking his own money to prevent the Manchester-based predator), secured LWT.

In 1996, Bland was appointed Chairman of the BBC, then being run by his old LWT colleague John Birt. He supported Birt’s controversial reforms and ensured that Dyke succeeded Birt in 1999.

He again played the role of moderniser, as Chairman of BT. And from 2004 to 2011 he was an enthusiastic Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Late in life, he discovered a talent for writing and wrote two novels and had a play staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre.

He is survived by his wife, Jennie, his son, Archie, two stepsons, Jamie and William, and two stepdaughters, Georgia and Tara.