When the BBC decided to end Peter Hobday’s contract on the Today programme in 1996, many of the show’s 2.5 million listeners were outraged on behalf of the affable broadcaster, who had often found time to tell them about how his camellias were faring. The Times even mounted a “save Peter Hobday” campaign. The Daily Telegraph likened his interviewing style to “someone asking you if you would like a cup of cocoa”. It did not help that Hobday often co-presented with the abrasive and hectoring John Humphrys, who delighted in interrupting his subjects. The impeccably polite Hobday would apologise…

Source: The Times January 21, 2020 00:00 UTC