Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, delivered the St Paul’s Theological Centre’s annual lecture at Holy Trinity Brompton in June.

Mr Thompson, who has been in charge of the world’s largest broadcast corporation since 2004, spoke on the subject of ‘Faith in the Media’.

The St Paul’s Theological Centre, which is based at Holy Trinity Brompton, is closely associated with Alpha and is committed to making theology accessible to Christians around the world.

Mr Thompson was welcomed to Holy Trinity by Vicar Nicky Gumbel and introduced by St Paul’s Principal Dr Graham Tomlin.

In his lecture, Mr Thompson said, ‘The BBC was founded with boundless social and cultural ambitions. At our best I think we've always sought to explore, interrogate and celebrate every aspect of human society and culture.

‘For millions and millions of people in this country, for billions of people around the world, faith is central to their conception of what it is to be human.

‘And although of course it's our job to reflect every flavour of belief and non-belief, religion and the human religious impulse will always remain central for us as well.’

After his talk there was a question and answer session with Graham Tomlin putting questions emailed and texted in by the audience.

Asked about his personal Christian faith, he said, ‘I’m a Catholic, which is always regarded, interestingly enough, as a slightly different category from a certain kind of Christian.

‘When I left Channel Four to become Director General of the BBC, I was replaced by Andy Duncan – now Chief Executive of Channel Four News – who is an evangelical Christian and there was a big headline in Broadcast saying ‘Christian to lead Channel Four’. I thought, ‘Well what am I? Chopped chicken liver?’

He added, ‘I don’t leave my faith on a kind of coat rack when I come in in the morning and the values that I was brought up to believe in I hope I bring to everything I do and that includes my work at the BBC.’