{"id":2025691,"date":"2025-09-16T08:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T08:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2025691"},"modified":"2025-09-16T08:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T08:19:07","slug":"i-left-the-bbc-before-i-was-pushed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/i-left-the-bbc-before-i-was-pushed\/","title":{"rendered":"I left the BBC before I was pushed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lord Bragg has said he <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2025\/09\/03\/melvyn-bragg-step-downs-from-in-our-time-after-26-years\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:left the BBC;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">left the BBC<\/a> before he was \u201cpushed\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The novelist and Labour peer, 85, presented the Radio 4 show In Our Time before stepping down this month after 26 years on the air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lord Bragg said his decision to step down from intellectual discussion show, which launched in 1998, was \u201cthe right path for me\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking to Radio Times, he said: \u201cOne way or another, we\u2019ve all got to go sometime. And I just thought, I\u2019ll go now. I\u2019ll go before I\u2019m pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The latest series of the programme, in which the broadcaster discusses topics from The Iliad to the age of the universe with a range of academic guests, aired earlier this year.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">\u2018None of my business anymore\u2019<\/h2>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He is set to present a new series for the BBC in 2026, but the details have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The new presenter for In Our Time has not been announced either, and Lord Bragg said it was \u201cnone of my business anymore\u201d, though he said it would not matter \u201cin the slightest\u201d if a woman took over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Asked if he ever regretted the decision to step down, which was announced earlier this month, he said: \u201cSometimes I\u2019ve thought, \u2018What a stupid thing to do,\u2019 but mostly I think this is the right path for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Discussing the programme\u2019s legacy at a time of the prevalence of anti-scientific social media conspiracy theories, Lord Bragg said he hoped it had served as a counterbalance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He labelled some of the anti-science theories circulating as \u201cdisastrous, utterly stupid and destructive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that quite a bit of our public life is ignorant \u2013 but we\u2019re not ignorant,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Melvyn Bragg had not yet decided to leave the BBC by the time the last episode of In Our Time was broadcast &#8211; Lauren Jacobs\/BBC Pictures<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking about In Our Time being at the forefront of the BBC\u2019s entry into podcasting in 2004, Lord Bragg said people had questioned whether it was good enough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cSome people wondered whether <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/tv\/2024\/07\/19\/melvyn-bragg-interview-art-matters-sky-arts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:In Our Time;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">In Our Time<\/a> was good enough, or grand enough, or important enough,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cBut we just did it, and the audience came to us in millions, and it came to us from around the world. Though, obviously, I\u2019m very surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lord Bragg, who has suffered from several health issues recently, also revealed he had not made up his mind to leave by the time the last series\u2019s final episode was broadcast in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said: \u201cI found it quite a tricky one to do and later in the summer I had one of those moments where you think, \u2018Well, which path do you take through the woods?\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThen you take one, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/customer\/subscribe\/01doysa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b>Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lord Bragg has said he left the BBC before he was \u201cpushed\u201d. The novelist and Labour peer, 85, presented the Radio 4 show In Our Time before stepping down this month after 26 years on the air. Lord Bragg said his decision to step down from intellectual discussion show, which launched in 1998, was \u201cthe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2025692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[372942,372941,372943],"class_list":["post-2025691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-bbc-pictures","tag-melvyn-bragg","tag-radio-times"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/I-left-the-BBC-before-I-was-pushed.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2025692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}