Roly Keating


Roland Francis Kester Keating is Chief Executive of the British Library. He took up his post in September 2012.

Early life and education

Keating was born on 5 August 1961 to Donald Norman Keating and Betty Katharine Keating. He was educated at Westminster School, an independent school for boys in London, and then read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford.

Career

Keating joined the BBC in 1983. He was a producer and director for the Arts and Music department, making programmes for Omnibus, Bookmark and Arena. He was a producer and later became editor of The Late Show. In 1997, he became head of programming for UKTV, partly owned by the BBC. In 1999, he became the BBC Controller of Digital Channels. In 2000, he also took on the responsibility of Controller of Arts Commissioning. He became the Controller of digital television station BBC Four in December 2001, masterminding its launch on 2 March 2002. In 2003, he was also joint leader of the BBC's Charter Review project for six months. He became the channel controller for BBC Two in June 2004, a position he held until 2008. He was appointed temporary controller of BBC One following Peter Fincham's resignation on 5 October 2007.
While Controller, he said that he wanted to see BBC Two be the first mainstream British TV channel to be available on broadband. His decision to screen on 8 January 2005 forced him to go into hiding and he was given security protection.
Keating was previously Director of Archive Content for the BBC. He was announced as chief executive designate of the British Library in May 2012, to succeed Dame Lynne Brindley.
As of 2015, Keating was paid a salary of between £155,000 and £159,999 by the British Library, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.

Personal life

In 1989, Keating married Caroline Russell. Together they have three children; one son and two daughters.