In 2015, on this day James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a major tycoon in his own right, announced he was putting together an investors' group to acquire a controlling stake in BBC1, which had been put up for sale a few weeks earlier in a desperate attempt to resolve a growing British government budget shortfall.

The news of Murdoch's bid sparked grave fears among BBC1 employees, whose salaries had already been severely cut by the outgoing Cameron administration and were likely to be slashed still further if the Murdoch group succeed in its efforts to take over the longtime flagship of the BBC network.