East Midlands Airport to host BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions

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The programme will be presented from the airport’s check-in hall. Members of the public wishing to attend can book their free tickets at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bbc-radio-4-any-questions-live-from-east-midlands-airport-tickets-431545412947

Any Questions? 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. 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 presenters 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 after which Jonathan Dimbleby took the chair from September that year until June 2019. Chris Mason took over as presenter in October 2019, leaving the programme in June 2022 following his appointment as BBC Political Editor. The new permanent presenter of Any Questions will be appointed in the Autumn.

The most prolific panellist currently is the late Tony Benn, who first appeared in March 1951 and 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. Every Prime Minister since Harold Wilson has appeared on Any Questions at some point in their political career! Panels also feature many distinguished figures from the worlds of the Arts, Science, Business, Law and other areas of public life.

Currently, around 1.59 million people listen to the programme each week, the majority of them hearing the Saturday lunchtime repeat.