I set up In Our Time 27 years ago. I had been shunted from Start the Week to what was cheerfully known as the ‘death slot’, 9 a.m. on Thursdays, because BBC management decided I could no longer present that programme after becoming a member of the House of Lords. I know I’ve said it before elsewhere, but its success from those inauspicious beginnings was very fulfilling for me. I decided to retire from IoT in September. I will miss it as it gave me a tremendous education, but I know it will be in very good hands – Misha Glenny is a first-class broadcaster and writer. While passing on the baton, I would like to say how much the audience reaction always meant to me. There were many young people who reacted to the programme and the podcast. This gave me one of my greatest satisfactions over the years and the entire archive can still be heard online, as I am reminded when someone stops me in the street to talk about a programme from years ago that they’ve recently heard.

The intellectual diversity of IoT has been astounding. One of my favourite moments was when a scientist began his reply: ‘A billion, billion light years........

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