UK: Mr Greg Dyke was sacked as BBC director-general in the wake of the Hutton Report, he said yesterday.
He also said the entire BBC board of governors considered quitting after Lord Hutton's devastating criticisms.
Mr Dyke said he told the governors that he could not continue in his job unless he had their confidence, and they decided he should go.
He said he would need their backing to stay on.
"At that stage I left the room," he said.
"An hour or so later, I discovered they decided to suggest I leave. I had offered it, that was it." Speaking on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost programme, he said he had urged the governors not to jump ship as it would leave the corporation with no-one in charge.
"[The governors] discussed whether they should all go. I urged them not to all go, you can't have a BBC with nobody there." Mr Dyke also renewed his criticism of the British government and Lord Hutton. In an interview in the Sunday Times, he accused Downing Street of "systematically bullying" and intimidating the corporation over its coverage of the war in Iraq.
He also released a letter he had written to Prime Minister Tony Blair showing how the feuding between the government and the BBC preceded the report that sparked the Hutton inquiry.
He told the BBC: "What Alastair Campbell was clearly trying to do was intimidate the BBC so that we reported what he wanted us to report as opposed to what we wanted to report." Mr Dyke said the BBC had to resist that pressure.
"The moment the BBC starts kow-towing to government, you might as well close it down."
He said the government was entitled to try to pressurise the BBC but the corporation was equally justified in telling it "where to get off".
Relations were always strained between the BBC and the government at a time of war. But in the case of Iraq, it was even more difficult because the country was divided over it.
He also criticised Lord Hutton, saying he did not understand the law.
Lord Hutton had "got it wrong" because he had argued the law did not allow the BBC to broadcast a story revealing Dr Kelly's concerns.
Meanwhile, the government has asked the Commissioner for Public Appointments to oversee the selection of a new BBC chairman to ensure public confidence in its independence.
Culture Secretary Ms Tessa Jowell said Dame Rennie Fritchie and three senior privy councillors would oversee the process to underline its independence from government.
The government is responsible for appointing the new chairman following Gavyn Davies's decision to quit over the Hutton report.
Under current rules the post is advertised and an independent panel draws up a shortlist before making recommendations to the government. The queen then appoints the new chairman.
But Ms Jowell said because of the extra sensitivity following the Hutton Report, she wanted further measures in place.
She told BBC 1's Breakfast With Frost: "So seriously do I and the prime minister take the importance of confidence in the process that we intend to enhance it by having the independent process. "