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| James Naughtie to leave BBC Radio 4's Today show | James Naughtie to leave BBC Radio 4's Today show |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| James Naughtie is to leave the Today programme after more than 20 years to become a special correspondent for Radio 4. | |
| Naughtie, who joined Today in 1994, is the Radio 4 institution’s second longest-serving presenter after John Humphrys. | Naughtie, who joined Today in 1994, is the Radio 4 institution’s second longest-serving presenter after John Humphrys. |
| Related: George Osborne forces BBC to pay for over-75s' TV licences | Related: George Osborne forces BBC to pay for over-75s' TV licences |
| When he leaves the programme at the beginning of next year, he will be the second presenter to depart in two years, after Evan Davis’s left last year to present BBC2’s Newsnight. | |
| Naughtie said: “It’s an extremely happy transition for me. It turns out what I wanted to do was what the BBC thought I should be doing, so everybody’s happy. Dream job to dream job!” | Naughtie said: “It’s an extremely happy transition for me. It turns out what I wanted to do was what the BBC thought I should be doing, so everybody’s happy. Dream job to dream job!” |
| Thrilled to be doing what I want to do in new role at the BBC from January. From a dream job to a dream job... | Thrilled to be doing what I want to do in new role at the BBC from January. From a dream job to a dream job... |
| His exit announced on Tuesday will immediately fuel speculation over who will replace him, with the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson, not yet back on full duties following surgery for lung cancer, thought to be the frontrunner for the role. | |
| Should Robinson take the role, his position as political editor is expected to be filled by a woman with Laura Kuenssberg, chief correspondent and occasional presenter of Newsnight, among the leading contenders. | |
| As special correspondent the BBC said Naughtie would have responsibility for “charting the course of the constitutional changes at the heart of the UK political debate – devolution and independence, parliamentary reform and the changes in the UK’s relations with Europe”. | |
| Naughtie, who took a leading role last year in the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish independence referendum, will also be a “roving reporter” covering next year’s Scottish elections and the American and French presidential elections. | Naughtie, who took a leading role last year in the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish independence referendum, will also be a “roving reporter” covering next year’s Scottish elections and the American and French presidential elections. |
| He will also take on the new role of books editor for BBC News, appearing chiefly on Radio 4, including a new book review slot on the Saturday edition of Today. | |
| He is currently one of five presenters on the programme, alongside Humphrys, Sarah Montague, Justin Webb and its most recent recruit, Mishal Husain. | |
| Today editor Jamie Angus described Naughtie as an “editor’s dream” and said the programme would “still have plenty of Jim in years to come”. | Today editor Jamie Angus described Naughtie as an “editor’s dream” and said the programme would “still have plenty of Jim in years to come”. |
| He paid tribute to the presenter’s “immense knowledge, skill and range as a live interviewer” and also his “chronic reluctance to read the correct time, find the weather forecast, stop a gale of suppressed laughter once he gets going”. | He paid tribute to the presenter’s “immense knowledge, skill and range as a live interviewer” and also his “chronic reluctance to read the correct time, find the weather forecast, stop a gale of suppressed laughter once he gets going”. |
| Angus said: “Usually arriving at around 4.00am in a burst of newspapers, weapons-grade gossip – possibly involving the previous evening spent at the theatre or the opera – and always a slew of ideas of how to take that morning’s programme forward, Jim was always a Today night-editor’s dream. | Angus said: “Usually arriving at around 4.00am in a burst of newspapers, weapons-grade gossip – possibly involving the previous evening spent at the theatre or the opera – and always a slew of ideas of how to take that morning’s programme forward, Jim was always a Today night-editor’s dream. |
| Related: BBC's James Naughtie apologises for calling Caitlyn Jenner 'he' | Related: BBC's James Naughtie apologises for calling Caitlyn Jenner 'he' |
| “Out of the office and on the road, Jim was in his element. Insatiably curious and always charming, Jim has a knack of grabbing interviews in a corridor or lift you never thought you’d ever get. | “Out of the office and on the road, Jim was in his element. Insatiably curious and always charming, Jim has a knack of grabbing interviews in a corridor or lift you never thought you’d ever get. |
| “And all of it anchored by his ability as a writer for radio, second to none, always able to conjure up for the audience a sense of place – a US convention, a party conference, moving into Kosovo in a Land-Rover, all of it rendered vividly for a generation of Today listeners. | “And all of it anchored by his ability as a writer for radio, second to none, always able to conjure up for the audience a sense of place – a US convention, a party conference, moving into Kosovo in a Land-Rover, all of it rendered vividly for a generation of Today listeners. |
| “I’m delighted we will still have plenty of Jim in years to come – reporting and writing, his first love, and on the stories that really matter in the coming year.” | “I’m delighted we will still have plenty of Jim in years to come – reporting and writing, his first love, and on the stories that really matter in the coming year.” |
| Angus added: “It feels so strange to contemplate a time when Jim won’t be presenting Today; first as a listener, then as a producer on the programme and finally as editor, I’ve known nothing else. The rest of 2015 is going to go too quickly, but Today goes on, and so does Jim, a man I’m very proud to call my friend.” | Angus added: “It feels so strange to contemplate a time when Jim won’t be presenting Today; first as a listener, then as a producer on the programme and finally as editor, I’ve known nothing else. The rest of 2015 is going to go too quickly, but Today goes on, and so does Jim, a man I’m very proud to call my friend.” |
| BBC director general Tony Hall said: “Jim has been the emotional heart of the Today programme for a generation. | |
| “His persistent and incisive questioning has given millions of listeners a greater understanding of the stories of our time. Above all he’s a writer and reporter at heart - he can bring to life a vivid scene on the radio better than anyone.” | |
| Naughtie joined Today in 1994 following the death of Brian Redhead. He previously spent six years as presenter of the World at One, after a career in newspapers including the Scotsman, the Washington Post and the Guardian, where he was appointed chief political correspondent in 1985. | |
| Naughtie said: “It was exciting to discover that the BBC and I had the same idea about what I should do next. | |
| “I’m thrilled to be moving from one dream job to another, and working with the programmes across Radio 4 - including Today - that I love and have known for so long. I can’t think of a more invigorating challenge. And after 21 years, I can turn off that 3am alarm at last”. |
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