Yahoo News John Humphrys to end his tenure as longest serving Today host
John Humphrys is set to end his tenure as the longest serving host of the Today programme.
When his final show finishes on Thursday, a total of 32 years and 260 days will have passed since Humphrys first sat in front of the Today microphone, on January 2 1987.
No other presenter has come close to matching his record and the next longest serving host is Jim Naughtie, whose stint lasted 21 years and 291 days, between 1994 and 2015.
His tenure on Today has spanned seven prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
He has also survived eight different editors of the Today programme and seven directors-general of the BBC.
Today will celebrate its 62nd birthday at the end of October - meaning Humphrys has worked on the show for more than half of its existence.
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Humphrys does not plan to retire and will continue to host the BBC Two quiz show Mastermind.
Earlier in his career, he was the first reporter on the scene of the fatal Aberfan disaster in his native Wales, which killed 144 people.
He spent his first years at the BBC as a foreign correspondent in the US and South Africa. He also covered President Nixon's fall, and the birth of Zimbabwe.
He returned to London in 1980 to become a diplomatic correspondent and a year later was promoted to main presenter of the now defunct Nine O'Clock News.
Six years later he joined the BBC Radio 4 programme Today.
Reporting by PA.
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