The BBC has apologised after it “missed opportunities that might have led to action” following claims of “bullying and misogynistic behaviour” against former Radio One star Tim Westwood.

It comes after the publication of an independent external review into Westwood‘s conduct while he was working for the corporation.

The review did not find “significant BBC knowledge of allegations or concerns about sexual misconduct” by the DJ, but concluded “a range of factors… ought to have alerted” the broadcaster to the possibility he might “present a risk to young women and girls”.

Westwood did not take part in the review. In a statement for the report sent through his solicitors, he strongly denied his behaviour “ever amounted to bullying or harassment”, and said some people “behaved poorly” towards him.

Publication of the report, commissioned in 2022, has faced several delays – including in December, when the BBC postponed at the request of the Metropolitan Police.

The review, carried out by barrister Gemma White KC, cost approximately £3.3m.

It included contributions from more than 120 people and highlights several allegations which Ms White said showed there was a “considerable body of evidence either known to, or available to” the BBC which raised questions about Westwood’s conduct.

Responding to the report, the BBC board highlighted the review had found “no widespread or significant BBC knowledge of allegations or concerns about predatory sexual behaviour”.

Their statement continued: “It is clear, however, that there were instances where the organisation missed opportunities that might have led to action. Allegations were treated in isolation rather than being brought together. Had this happened, the BBC may have seen a pattern of behaviour that it could have acted on.

“There is evidence of bullying and misogynistic behaviour on the part of Mr Westwood and the plain fact is that his general conduct was entirely incompatible with BBC values – not just now, but then. The organisation fell short and failed people – including our own staff – who had a right to expect better from us.”

What did the review find?

People who reported allegations against Westwood said they were “concerned that they would not be believed or might be blamed” for his alleged behaviour, Ms White wrote in her report.

The DJ was “very popular so no one wanted to listen”, one person said.

“A common theme amongst those who reported allegations was that they did not know or understand at the time that the behaviour which they had described to me was wrong,” the report said.

One person described Westwood’s conduct as being “so public” and “brazen”, the report stated, and members of the BBC production team were left “upset and in tears” as a result of his alleged bullying and harassment.

The report read: “People referred to Tim Westwood refusing to talk to some of his BBC production team members, ‘freezing them out’ and giving them the ‘silent treatment’.

“Many told me that they, and others, found it very difficult to work with him.”

Ms White’s report said “many people” also raised concerns about the way Westwood treated people on air, including jokes about women’s breasts, and the review team listened to a selection of his 1Xtra drivetime shows during their investigations.

“There are repeated examples of Tim Westwood discussing, or referring to, the bodies of those who were in the studio with him and of jokes at their expense,” Ms White wrote.

However, she added: “I did not hear of any allegation of inappropriate sexual contact with BBC colleagues and no BBC employee who worked with Tim Westwood told me that they regarded inappropriate sexualised language that Tim Westwood is alleged to have used about them to be a sexual advance.”

 The BBC has taken a range of actions in recent years, including implementing a specialist case management process to consider the most serious allegations and concerns raised, as well as a new anti-bullying and harassment policy.

Westwood began his career on local radio before joining Capital Radio in London.

He then moved to the BBC and left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra after nearly 20 years in 2013. He hosted a regular Saturday show on Capital Xtra, where he was referred to as “The Big Dawg”, before he left the company in 2022.

In their statement for the review, Westwood’s lawyers said he had complained about “negative behaviour” towards him when he worked for 1Xtra and was “essentially advised to rise above it”.

He also said after a move to a new slot in 2009, “the environment felt competitive and hostile” and was “toxic from the outset”.

On some occasions, Westwood “took issue with some of his colleagues’ poor attitude to work and low productivity, and expressed his opinion that they were lazy and out of touch with the audience”, his lawyers’ statement said. “He accepts that this contributed to a divisive atmosphere within some of the teams with which he worked.”

Allegations against Westwood were first made public in 2022, when several women accused him of sexual misconduct. He has strongly denied all allegations of inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoing.

The Met Police previously said detectives were investigating accusations of offences alleged to have happened between 1982 and 2016.

More than 1,000 artists and musicians including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Sam Fender and Annie Lennox have recorded a silent album in protest at proposed changes to copyright law, which they say could lead to artists being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

Is This What We Want? also involves artists including Billy Ocean, Tom Grennan, New Order, Simon Le Bon, Tori Amos, Pet Shop Boys, The Clash, Bashy, Jamiroquai and Imogen Heap – along with a range of composers, conductors and organisations such as Hans Zimmer, and the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

It features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces – which artists say could become a reality for musicians in the UK if the changes go ahead.

The track listing spells out the message: “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.”

Under the government’s plans, an exemption to copyright would be created for training AI, so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material – and creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.

A consultation on the issue closes today.

Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell have also backed a campaign opposing the proposals, and Sir Paul McCartney has spoken out against them.

The new plans fail to reimburse artists for AI recreating and copying their work, stifle creativity, and the proposed opt-out scheme places an unnecessary burden on artists, critics say.

All profits from the silent album will be donated to the musicians’ charity, Help Musicians.

Read more:
‘Regulate it before we’re all finished’
Why the UK didn’t sign up to global AI agreement

‘Throwing creative industries under the bus’

Campaigner Ed Newton-Rex, who organised the album, said: “The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them.

“It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary. The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.

“This album shows that, however the government tries to justify it, musicians themselves are united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan.”

The creative industries have been vocal in their opposition to how powerful AI models such as ChatGPT can be used to generate fresh content on demand, imitating what already exists.

Concerns around their use by film and TV studios to write scripts or even replace actors were a key driver of the Hollywood strikes in 2023, while music labels have sought to prevent pop stars’ vocals from being freely cloned and photographers have spoken out against online art generators.

In 2023, UK music contributed £7.6bn to the UK economy, with exports of UK music reaching £4.6bn.

While some AI firms have started making deals to license content, many existing models have been trained using data from the public internet, including from news and other publishing websites.

Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association, the trade organisation representing book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK, said the “extraordinary strength of support” against the proposals is “something the government ignores at its peril”.

He continued: “When Booker, Grammy, Oscar and Nobel prize winners are united in calling on the government for a fair hearing, we have to hope they listen…

“The message to government is clear: the great copyright heist cannot go unchallenged.”

Grammy-award winning singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, her publicist has announced.

The American singer was best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

One of the top recording artists of the 1970s, she died on Monday surrounded by her family, her publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement.

In 2022, Flack announced she was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), and could no longer sing.

Rising to fame in her early 30s, Flack became an overnight success after Clint Eastwood chose her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as the soundtrack for the explicit love scenes of his 1971 movie Play Misty For Me.

The track topped the US charts in 1972, and Flack was rewarded with a Grammy.

The following year she took the coveted Record of the Year prize at the Grammys for a second time with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist ever to do so.

Discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, Flack was a classically trained pianist, receiving a full scholarship to study at Howard University at just 15.

McCann later wrote of Flack: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.”

A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges – for which she was acquitted – for murder and kidnapping.

Flack also sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black player.

Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, later releasing an album of Beatles covers.

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia.

She was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972.

Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.

Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.

While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.

In the mid-90s, she received a wave of new attention after the Fugees covered Killing Me Softly. She would go on to perform with the hip-hop band on stage.

A five-time Grammy winner, Flack received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020.

Contemporary stars to praise her include Beyoncé, John Legend and Ariana Grande.

Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, Flack proved a canny educator, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2012: “I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, DC It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education.

“I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. [I’d sing]: ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!”