The class at the Tremough Campus at Penryn enjoyed a lecture from Greg Dyke.

And the broadcaster’s ex-director general came out swinging over the affair that effectively ended his career there.

My Dyke stepped down in 2004 after the BBC’s row with the Government over the reasons for going to war in Iraq and the outing and death of ‘whistleblower’ David Kelly.

He shared revealing insights into the current relationship between BBC and Government with the packed audience, blaming ministers for limiting the broadcaster’s freedom to innovate through a new charter imposed earlier this year.

He told them: “I left the BBC because we exposed the whistle blower (Dr David Kelly) and we know from the Butler Report that we were absolutely right.”

He maintained that the BBX was right to report that the Government had knowingly exaggerated Iraq’s military capabilities and that the Hutton Report damaged the public perception of Tony Blair more than that BBC.

Mr Dyke also delivered a damning verdict on the new charter, saying the BBC - the first to broadcast in colour and inventor of Teletext and NICAM stereo – would no longer be able to innovate new technologies so quickly; much to the delight of its commercial competitors.