Bruce Gyngell AO (8 July 1929 – 7 September 2000) was an influential Australian television executive, prominent for 50 years in both Australian and UK television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena of early television broadcasting, helping to set up Channel 9, the first commercial TV station in Australia. He is credited with introducing the sofa format of breakfast television and in later life, for expressing his attraction to eastern ideas which ranged through Zen Buddhism, meditation and Insight philosophy.
He was awarded the A.O. (Officer of the Order of Australia) in the 2000 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the media, particularly the development of the television industry in Australia and overseas, and to raising awareness of the social responsibility of the industry to meet community expectations.
$250,000
