Autumn manœuvres

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author, and parliamentarian. Earlier in his career, Bragg worked for the BBC in various roles including presenter, a connection that resumed in 1988 when he began to host Start the Week on BBC Radio 4. He was also the editor and presenter of The South Bank Show (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and served as Chancellor of the University of Leeds from 1999 until 2017. After his ennoblement in 1998, he switched to presenting the new BBC Radio 4 documentary series In Our Time, an academic discussion radio programme, which has run to more than one thousand broadcast editions and is also a podcast. In September 2025, Bragg announced that he would step down from hosting the show after 27 years.