First edition of Today

Image: Jack de Manio and Ruth Drew presenting Today in May 1959. Studio manager Maureen Milton-Dinnis and producer Robert Craddock oversee the broadcast.

The first edition of Today was broadcast on 28 October 1957, on the Home Service. The news and current affairs programme began life as a breakfast-time magazine, presented in two, 20-minute segments by Alan Skempton.

The first show included items called "Briefing a Pilot at London Airport", "First Night at Liverpool", "The Sale of Napoleon's Letters", and reviews of the latest gramophone records. The Today programme gradually became more serious. It now attracts 6 million listeners a week and is said to set the day's news agenda.

Today has boasted some of the great radio presenters over the years. Jack de Manio took over in 1958 and hosted the programme until 1971. He was joined by John Timpson in 1970, who went on to form a partnership with Brian Redhead, which lasted until 1986. The reputation for exacting interviews with politicians which the programme has acquired goes back to this time, and Redhead and Timpson's style has been described by John Humphrys - who took over from Timpson - as "the cornerstone for what the Today programme has become".

Today is now the most popular programme on Radio 4. Whenever there is a big news story the audience increases as more listeners tune to Today for authoritative news.