John Humphrys, one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters, joins the Classic FM team this year to present his own Sunday afternoon show from 3pm to 5pm.
Each week he will share his own stories and reflections of his favourite composers and their music.
With a successful career spanning six decades, John has presented on both radio and TV, and has anchored many of the country’s flagship news programmes, including the Today Programme.
Upcoming Shows
Sunday 31 May
As legendary actor Clint Eastwood turns 90, John celebrates with a theme from one of his best-known films, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. He also plays a new recording of Handel’s Messiah in an unusual arrangement commissioned by legendary British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and a live performance of Gershwin’s epic Rhapsody in Blue by a musician who says “For me, playing music is about transporting to another way of life, another way of being”: award-winning Chinese pianist Yuja Wang.
Sunday 7 June
Five hundred years ago today, King Henry VIII lined up against King Francis I of France for a legendary tournament at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. This afternoon, John marks the occasion by playing a melody that tradition tells us the English king composed: Greensleeves.
John also plays music to commemorate the anniversary of the opening of the first museum of its kind; not owned by the king, and open to the public – the British Museum. Plus, there’s a new recording of Elgar from a musician who has used the recent lockdown to bring music education into the homes of thousands: violinist Nicola Benedetti.
