John Humphrys is an award-winning journalist who has presented the Today programme since January 1987 - almost twice as long as any other presenter. In his 50 years at the BBC he was also their youngest television foreign correspondent and  served in Washington during the Watergate years and southern Africa during apartheid and the Rhodesian war. He presented the Nine o'Clock news on BBC1 for six years and has also presented Panorama and On the Ropes on Radio 4. He has chaired Mastermind since 2003. He's written eight books, including two on the English language and others on the dangers of intensive agriculture and the case for physician assisted suicide.