Today (sometimes referred to as "the Today programme" to avoid ambiguity) is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks. It consists of regular news bulletins, serious and often confrontational political interviews and in-depth reports, and an often criticised religious slot of 3m 15s. It has been voted the most influential news programme in Britain in setting the political agenda. The programme has 7.18 million listeners. It was voted the Best Breakfast Show of the Year at the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Today was launched on the BBC's Home Service on 28 October 1957 as a programme of 'topical talks' to give listeners a morning alternative to light music. It was initially broadcast as two 20-minute editions slotted in around the existing news bulletins and religious and musical items. In 1963 it became part of the BBC's Current Affairs department, and it started to become more news-orientated. The two editions also became longer, and by the end of the 1960s it had become a single two-hour long programme that enveloped the news bulletins and the religious talk that had become Thought for the Day. Radio 4 controller Ian McIntyre cut it back to two parts in 1976-1978 (creating a gap which was filled by Up to the Hour), but it was swiftly returned to its former position.

James "Jim" Naughtie (surname pronounced /ˈnɔːxti/; born 9 August 1951) is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.

James Naughtie was born and brought up in Milltown of Rothiemay, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was educated at Keith Grammar School, the University of Aberdeen and then Syracuse University in New York. He is a Fellow of the British-American Project.

Naughtie began his career as a journalist in 1975 at the Aberdeen Press & Journal, moving to the London offices of The Scotsman in 1977. The following year he joined the paper's Westminster staff, and became its Chief Political Correspondent. In 1981, he worked for The Washington Post as the Laurence Stern fellow on its national staff. Naughtie joined The Guardian in 1984, and became its Chief Political Correspondent in 1985.

In 1986, Naughtie moved into radio presenting, presenting The Week In Westminster moving to The World At One in 1988. He has also made several radio documentaries and series and has written three books, Playing the Palace: A Westminster Collection, The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage, and The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency.

Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, harmonica, and most recently, the autoharp.

Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini, whose vocalist and saxophone player, John Parish, would become her long-term collaborator. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio and subsequently began her professional career. The trio released two studio albums, Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further six studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including John Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood.

Among the accolades she has received are the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011) respectively—the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice—eight BRIT Award nominations, six Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter and 1995's Artist of the Year, and listed Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love (1995) on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution To Music at the NME Awards.

Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943 in Splott, Cardiff), is a British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the Nine O'Clock News, the flagship BBC news television programme, and since 1987 he has been a presenter on the award-winning BBC Radio 4 programme, Today. He is also currently the host of the popular BBC Two television quiz show Mastermind.

Humphrys has a reputation of being a tenacious and forthright interviewer; occasionally politicians have been very critical of his style after being subjected to a tough interview on live radio.

Humphrys was born in Splott, son of Winifred Mary (Matthews), a hairdresser, and Edward George Humphrys, a self employed French polisher. He was one of five children. His parents encouraged him to do his homework and he passed the eleven plus exam. He became a pupil at Cardiff High School (then a grammar school), but he did not fit in to the middle class environment there. He was an average pupil and left school at the age of 15 years to become a teenage reporter on the Penarth Times. He later joined the Western Mail.

Wendy Piatt (born 17 November 1970) is the Director General of The Russell Group of UK universities from January 2007.

Piatt was born on the Wirral, and went to convent school in Birkenhead.

She was awarded a first class honours BA in English from King's College London before studying for an MPhil in Shakespeare and Renaissance drama and then a doctorate in 16th and 17th century political philosophy at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Piatt went on to work for the left-of-centre think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research before joining the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, where she rose to the post of Deputy Director.

In January 2007, she was appointed Director General of The Russell Group. Dr Piatt leads the Group’s policy development and strategic direction to help ensure the UK’s major research-intensive universities maintain and enhance their worldwide reputation for excellence in research, teaching and knowledge transfer.