JoLLy JaCK’S gaFFeS
Jack de Manio became the main presenter in 1958 and many listeners loved his down-toearth, humorous style although others were appalled by his occasional lapses on air. He once gave offence by mispronouncing the name of the river Niger and referred to John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono as “Yoko Hama, or whatever her name is”. He also habitually got the time wrong. often broadcast from Manchester, was seen as being on the Left and was criticised for his confrontational style. In an interview with the chancellor Nigel Lawson, who accused him of having been a Labour voter all his life, Redhead called for a minute’s silence to allow Lawson to apologise for suggesting that he knew how he voted. It later emerged Redhead actually voted for Nicholas Winterton, his local Tory MP in Cheshire, who was a close friend. listeners: “Oh, I must be going barmy, it had to happen eventually. Anyway, it is 10 to seven, 10 to eight, oh God.”
BBC Radio 4’s agenda setting news show attracts more than 7m listeners a day six decades after it was launched as a vehicle for ‘topical talks’
The commanders of our nuclear submarines carry a secret “letter of last resort” written by the Prime Minister telling them what to do in case there is a nuclear attack and she is killed. A historian once claimed that one such letter said they were to assume the country has been wiped out if Today was not broadcast three days in a row. Today has broken countless major stories. It first aired the “dodgy dossier” allegation relating to the Iraq War, which led to the suicide of its source Dr David Kelly. Prime ministers often appoint an unofficial “Minister for the Today programme” – incumbents have included Mo Mowlam, Peter Hain and Michael Gove.
But former BBC editorial director Roger Mosey has questioned whether the programme has “gone soft” under its new editor Sarah Sands. In an article last month Mosey wrote: “This matters because Today matters. What the nation needs now is a predominantly serious and analytical programme that illuminates Britain… we should expect the BBC to deliver it.”
One journalist recently tweeted: “OMG another segment on London Fashion Week! I love fashion but I want news before 9am. Today starting to sound like local radio.” How Jack de Manio would have hated that.