BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten quits after heart surgery

LONDON: Chris Patten, whose tenure as head of the BBC's governing body was dominated by the fallout from a string of paedophilia scandals at the broadcaster, resigned Tuesday after undergoing major heart surgery.
Patten, a former Conservative politician and the last British governor of Hong Kong before the handover to China in 1997, said he had been admitted to hospital in late April after suffering serious chest pains.
The BBC, the world's largest public broadcaster, said that the 69-year-old Patten would be "standing down with immediate effect on health grounds following major heart surgery".
He took the post as chairman of the BBC Trust in April 2012.
Patten, who is also chancellor of the prestigious Oxford University, said he underwent a combination of bypass surgery and angioplasty and had suffered no permanent damage to his heart.
"On the advice of my doctors, however, and having consulted my family and friends, I have concluded that I cannot continue to work at the same full pace as I have done to date, and that I should reduce the range of roles I undertake," he said.
"On this basis I have decided with great regret to step down from much the most demanding of my roles -- that of Chairman of the BBC Trust."
Vice Chairman Diane Coyle would take over as acting chairman until Patten's successor is named, the BBC said.
Since late 2012 Patten had spent much of his time dealing with the fallout from revelations that Jimmy Savile, once one of the BBC's biggest stars, was among Britain's most prolific sex offenders.
That was followed by other scandals including a BBC television report wrongly accusing a politician of paedophilia, and the resignation of the broadcaster's director general after just 54 days.
Patten was chairman of Britain's Conservative Party but lost his parliamentary seat in elections in 1992.
He was then appointed as Britain's last governor of Hong Kong, where his rotund figure and white hair earned him the nickname "Fat Pang".
Patten said he had undergone angioplasty -- a technique by which arteries are widened -- while in Hong Kong and another heart procedure seven years ago. – AFP