Service-sponsored poetry contest (in celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Archaemenid empire) that the organisation "seems to be damaging its image by acquiring a reputation for employing and supporting 'old brigade' expatriates." Furthermore, it appears that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office made a concerted effort to favourable of Persia to BBC World Service audiences in order to maintain cordiality with the Shah's regime. For example, in December 1973, a memo from Ramsbotham details a request from the Iranian Prime Minister for the text of a broadcast about Iran by Peter Avery, lecturer in Persian Studies and Fellow at King's College, Cambridge, which he deemed 'excellent' and wanted to show the Shah. This later became the programme Iran: Oil and the Shah's Arab Neighbours which was aired globally on 1 December 1973, much to the chagrin of the Iranian people, who began airing their frustrations against the British government out on the BBC Persian Service; By 1976, Ramsbotham's successor, Sir Anthony Parsons, concluded that the Persian Service has lost its propaganda value and supported discontinuing the service: "[It] is well known that the vernacular service is financed by the FCO and is therefore firmly considered by the Iranians as an official organ of the government." In September 2022, the World Service announced the closure of its Persian and Arabic radio service as part of a cost-cutting plan, but an online service will remain. See also 1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions BBC Media Action BBC World Service Television References External links BBC World Service Radio frequencies BBC World Service Radio in different languages BBC News Language Selection at BBC Online 1932 establishments in England World Service International broadcasters Podcasting companies Public Radio International Radio in Africa Radio in Asia Radio in Europe Radio in North America Radio in South America Radio stations established in 1932 Radio stations in the United Kingdom Sirius XM Radio channels Publicly funded broadcasters