Internet use is not confined to the young and we know that many of our older listeners log on

Radio 4 controller Helen Boaden

Users can also search an audio archive for recent key interviews, take a virtual tour around the studios and look back at some of the most memorable moments during the past 40 years of the show.

Rather than snapshot images updated every few seconds like many sites, video-style pictures will be seen at on the site.

Controller of Radio 4 Helen Boaden said she hoped listeners and potential listeners will enjoy the extra dimension the site brings to the Today programme.

"Today Online is an important step for Radio 4 Online, which will launch later in the year," she said.

'Newspaper of the airwaves'

"Internet use is not confined to the young and we know that many of our older listeners log on."

Today is widely considered the most significant news broadcast in the UK and has been dubbed "the newspaper of the airwaves".

On average 2.2 million people tune in every morning, making it the most listened to early morning news programme in Britain.

John Humphrys is famous for his no-nonsense questioning style

It numbers among its listeners most of the country's politicians, opinion-formers and journalists.

The entire three-hour programme is recorded each day for the Prime Minister and his colleagues.

Since it first started on 28 October, 1957, every prime minister has appeared on the programme from Tony Blair to Harold Macmillan.

Former presenter, the late Brian Redhead, said: "If you want to drop a word in the ear of the nation, then this is the programme in which to do it."