''Up to the Hour'' was a programme on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

that ran from May 1977 to June 1978. There were two editions every weekday morning, each 25 minutes long and finishing at 7am and 8am respectively (hence the title). Both parts were followed by the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' programme, which during this period was also broadcast in two parts. Rather than hire a separate presenter, the programme was presented by the duty announcer. The first presenter was

Laurie Macmillan Laurie Macmillan (10 May 1947 – 8 October 2001) was a BBC Radio 4 newsreader and continuity announcer born in Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland. Educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, Monmouthshire and then at Newcastle Univ ...

, the last

John Marsh John Marsh may refer to: Politicians * John Marsh (MP fl. 1394–1397), MP for Bath * John Marsh (MP fl. 1414–1421), MP for Bath *John Allmond Marsh (1894–1952), Canadian Member of Parliament * John Otho Marsh Jr. (1926–2019), American c ...

; other presenters included

Peter Donaldson Peter Ian Donaldson (23 August 1945 – 2 November 2015) was an English newsreader on BBC Radio 4. Early life Donaldson was born in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to Cyprus in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of King Farouk. He was a frequent ...

Harriet Cass Harriet R M Cass (born 4 February 1952) is a freelance broadcaster, best known for her work on BBC Radio 4 as a senior announcer, with responsibility for newsreading and continuity. Born in London NW10, at the Central Middlesex Hospital, the four ...

Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", creat ...

and future television newsreader

Moira Stuart Moira Clare Ruby Stuart, (born 2 September 1949) is a British presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.François Joseph Gossec François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...

, performed by

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstan ...

History

In 1977 the then-controller of Radio 4,

Ian McIntyre Ian McIntyre (9 December 1931 – 19 April 2014) was a British BBC Radio producer, journalist, broadcaster and author. who was Controller of BBC Radio 4 from 1976 to 1978 and then Controller of BBC Radio 3 between 1978 and 1987. After joini ...

, cut the length of a number of news and current affairs programmes, in the belief that this would improve their overall quality. In the case of the breakfast programme ''Today'', the reduction from two hours to one was achieved by splitting the programme into two. The gaps created were filled by ''Up to the Hour'', which consisted of lighter items such as music, sport and trailers for upcoming programmes. It also incorporated the existing religious slot, ''

Thought for the Day ''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lastin ...

''. The new format was unpopular with BBC staff, including

who on at least one occasion openly ridiculed the programme on air. It also provoked comments in the diary columns of the daily newspapers. From July 1978 ''Today'' returned to its previous length and ''Up to the Hour'' was dropped.

References

BBC Radio 4 programmes {{UK-radio-show-stub