We’re very excited to be hosting Any Questions for BBC Radio 4 on Friday 28th October. Radio’s counterpart to Question Time is to be chaired by respected journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, of the renowned Dimbleby dynasty.
We’ve been given the opportunity because Any Questions is keen to reach out to local venues and were interested that our Warehouse34 space also hosts rehearsals for the homeless singing charity Streetwise Opera. So, we’re kindof co-hosting with Streetwise Opera and their singing group will perform some of their work after the live radio bit – when there’ll be a short reception.
We hope you will come along for the evening and add to the entertainment by contributing your questions. With 1.5 million listeners, it’s a great opportunity to get your voice heard – no pressure!
There’s no limit on the number of questions submitted per person – so if you’re interested in current affairs and want to put the panellists to the test – ask away!
I’m instructed that the BBC is not averse to some humour, so light hearted questions are welcomed alongside more serious ones. However, please be aware that though Geordies are the most important people, the programme is UK-wide, so stick to topics of national interest.
The panel is yet to be confirmed, but we will keep you updated.
You must be present in the hall to put your question forward, so if you want the chance of being broadcast, or just fancy coming along for the fun, please contact me: suzie@houltsyard.co.uk for your free ticket. The doors open at 6:45pm, and you should take your seats by 7:15pm.
Unfortunately we have a limited number of tickets, and it’s first come, first served, so don’t hesitate too long! Please note that the minimum age limit for audience members is 14.
Background info:
Any Questions? Was first broadcast on Friday 12th October 1948; for the first eighteen months it was a West of England Home Service Programme, run from Bristol. It moved to London in April 1915, but after 26 years in the capital, it has returned to production offices in Bristol once again.
Any Questions? is broadcast live on Radio 4 on most Friday evenings of the year following the 8pm news. The programme is repeated on Saturday lunchtimes at 1.15pm, and is followed at 2pm by the Any Answers? phone-in which gives listeners a chance to join in the debate by calling or emailing Jonathan Dimbleby.
The programme travels throughout the United Kingdom, and occasionally to Europe, at the invitation of local organisations. The audience submits questions on the day of the broadcast, and these are then sifted by the producer who selects ten questions across a range of subjects. Normally, four to six of them are included in the actual broadcast. One of the stringent and unchanging rules of Any Questions? is that the panel never sees the questions in advance; the panellists hear them for the first time at the same moment the audience in the hall and at home does.
The programme has had four chairmen in its history. Freddie Grisewood was the first, steering the programme until December 1967 when David Jacobs took over. David Jacobs was Chairman until July 1983; John Timpson chaired the programme until July 1987 when Jonathan Dimbleby took the chair.
The most prolific panellist currently is Tony Benn, who first appeared in March 1951 and has contributed around 80 times to the programme. Over the years, many figures of note have appeared as panellists, including most past and present leaders of the political parties, plus renowned writers such as Frederick Forsyth, Beryl Bainbridge and Fay Weldon, and many distinguished figures from the worlds of the Arts, Science, Business and other areas of public life. A new generation of columnists and newspaper editors, such as Charles Moore, Max Hastings and Janet Street Porter, also appear regularly.
Currently, around 1.5 million people listen to the programme each week, the majority of them hearing the Saturday lunchtime repeat. The programme has only rarely had to come off air – once through audience disruption, once as a result of sabotage by disaffected schoolboys, and once during the Suez crisis when a Parliamentary ruling was breached. Most recently the programme had to be pulled off the air in April 2011 as a result of an unfortunate disruption to trains which rendered three of the four panellists unable to reach the programme venue in County Durham.
