When the DJ Chris Moyles decided that he wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, Andy Parfitt, Radio 1’s controller, was only too eager to help.

The 51-year-old executive — total remuneration £218,800 — agreed to act as Moyles’s radio operator, so Moyles could broadcast on the charity climb. However, needing warm mountain clothing for the trip, the Radio 1 boss chose to bill the licence-fee payer for the cost.

His expenses bills, one of 107 published by the BBC yesterday, reveals two claims — £346.85 for Kilimanjaro “essentials” and a further £194.98 for “specialist clothing”. These were necessary, the BBC said, because of “the conditions Andy would be facing”.

If Mr Parfitt feels embarrassed, he is hardly alone, after the broadcaster chose to publish the exact salaries and expenses claims of 107 of its most senior employees: from Mark Thompson, its £834,000-a-year Director-General, to the unknown Tom Sleigh, who goes by the job title of chief adviser operations, and earned £81,100 last year.

The expenses data released yesterday cover all claims made in the three months from April and June by top BBC employees. Among the biggest was Mr Thompson’s for £647.50 for a two-night stay in January at the five-star Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, a location known to viewers of the Hollywood film Ocean’s Eleven.

If that claim was substantial, other claims made by the Director-General were trivial. The BBC’s top executive claimed repeatedly for parking meters, producing receipts for as little as 70p, even though he has his own driver who picks him up every day when he gets off the train in London after commuting from his Oxford home. Over three months he claimed £3,364.

The total claimed by all the 107 employees in that time was £174,650.42, an average claim of £1,632. That included £16,678 on hotels, £50,375 on flights, £30,314 on drinks, lunch and dinner and £46,110 on taxis. The 107 executives, the corporation’s top 50 earners, and 57 individuals who have a “strategic public policy role”, earn £22 million between them. There are 37 who earn more than £197,689, which is Gordon Brown’s proper salary, and 40 who get more than the £192,414 that he actually draws.

Excluded, though, is any disclosure of the amounts earned by the BBC’s stars, from Jonathan Ross to Jeremy Paxman. That left the Tories disappointed. Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said that while the corporation’s effort was “good news as far as it goes”, his party wanted to see “a full breakdown of what the BBC pays their celebrity talent”.

The annual report in June showed that 178 staff are employed across the BBC on salaries of between £100,000 and £129,999, but only 15 featured in yesterday’s list. The yearly bulletin recorded 92 staff paid between £130,000 and £159,999 but only 18 were disclosed. 52 staff earning £160,000 to £189,999 were identified in June, but only 23 were named yesterday.

What is revealed by the claims — nearly 3,000 in total — is a lifestyle lived by the top executives in any large public organisation, where high pay for jobs such as “HR shared services director”, and substantial expenses claims, are routine. Menna Richards, director of BBC Wales, claimed £5,969 on taxis, including 18 journeys costing more than £200 each. The BBC refused to say if they were from her Cardiff home to its headquarters in London. Ken MacQuarrie, controller of BBC Scotland, earns £192,800.

Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director, who is paid £183,300, claimed £3,211 for flying business class to New York, because “shortly after he landed” he was filming for his culture series Imagine, which the broadcaster said yesterday was “permitted under the corporate travel policy”.

There is a £99.85 bill run up by Janice Hadlow, controller of BBC Two, for having a “creative discussion” about Newsnight, and a £100 lunch bill run up by Roger Wright, the controller of Radio 3, while entertaining Simon Heffer, associate editor of The Daily Telegraph. Unknowns such as Graham Ellis, controller production audio & music, claimed £536.65 for a drinks bill at the Sony Radio Awards at The Grosvenor hotel on Park Lane.

The BBC can claim it is being “the most transparent public body in the United Kingdom”, in the words of one senior insider. “Where is the Royal Mail, where is Channel 4, where is Ofcom on all these issues? This hasn’t been easy for us, or our senior executives, but we think it’s the right thing to do.”

Every three months, in a display of what some might think of as corporate masochism, the BBC once again will publish another round of expenses claims. Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One, who bought a bottle of gin for £29.74 as a token of appreciation for Nicky Campbell for his work presenting Watchdog, might be forgiven for buying one for herself next time.

Eye-catching claims

Mark Thompson, Director-General Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, £647.50

Mark Byford, Deputy Director-General business meal with Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times, £12.90

Tim Davie, director of audio & music awayday team dinner, £750

Jay Hunt, controller, BBC One bottle of spirits, £29.74

Janice Hadlow, controller, BBC Two creative discussion re Newsnight, £99.85

Danny Cohen, controller BBC Three to discuss series two of Being Human, £438.58

Richard Klein, controller BBC Four Victorian Farm programme development talk, £280.69

Andrew Parfitt, controller Radio 1 gear for Comic Relief climb of Kilimanjaro, £541.83

Bob Shennan, controller Radio 2 Taxi £143.84

Roger Wright, controller Radio 3 lunch with Simon Heffer, including taxis, £120; dinner with Jiri Belohavek and other members of the BBC orchestras, £569.81

Mark Damazar, controller Radio 4 trip to see Lenny Henry play Othello, left, a Radio 4 play, £48

Adrian van Klaveren, controller Radio 5 discuss political coverage for next year, £100

Alan Yentob, creative director flight, London to New York, £3,211.70

John Yorke, controller of drama production and new talent unused flight to Glasgow, booked in error, £163.10

John Tate, director of policy and strategy policy and strategy industry dinner for 14 people, £1830.30

Ben Stephenson, controller of drama comissioning book, Handling The Undead, £8.78

Roland Keating, director of archive content Hilton Hotel, Long Beach, California, £1,010.83

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