Brian Redhead

Career Redhead's career in journalism started in 1954 as a journalist for the Manchester Guardian newspaper. He married Jean Salmon (known as Jenni) on 19 June 1954. They had four children: Later, Redhead presented Points North on television, and chaired the Saturday night Radio 4 topical conversation programme A Word in Edgeways for many years.

In the 1970s Redhead appeared twice on BBC Two's music panel quiz Face the Music: on 10 June 1974 and on 24 September 1975.

He formed a partnership with fellow Today presenter John Timpson which lasted for over 10 years. Redhead and Timpson had a series of running jokes on the programme, including the mythical organisations "The Friends of the M6" (long-suffering motorists trapped in its frequent traffic jams) and "The League of Pear-Shaped Men" (of which he and Timpson were the principal members).

His sense of humour often appeared in asides in the Today programme. Talking of a convoy moving at 3 mph, Redhead observed that was probably 3 mph faster than they were moving on the M25 motorway that morning. When working the same slot as John Humphrys, he gleefully reported that Humphrys had turned up for work on his day off (probably before 6.00am) and was livid. On another occasion, he reported that the weather would be "brighter in the north than the south, like the people". Sue MacGregor and Peter Hobday were also co-presenters, and the team was celebrated in 1987.

During his time on the Today programme, Redhead was accused of political bias by Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson, and in reply enquired "Do you think we should have a one-minute silence now in this interview, one for you to apologise for daring to suggest that you know how I vote and secondly perhaps in memory of monetarism which you have now discarded?" He later had a similar set-to with Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Lilley.

The feeling was that Redhead was to the left of his co-presenter John Timpson. Many years later Libby Purves, who also presented Today at the time, characterised them as classic opposites – Redhead the self-made Northerner, with social democratic leanings and aspirations to better himself, Timpson the gentle (and, perhaps, gently declining in terms of social prestige) old-school conservative middle class Southerner. In her words, Timpson "wanted it to be 1950", while Redhead "was more than ready for the New Britain of the 21st century, although he died before seeing its birth". However, Redhead claimed to be more of a Tory wet, not a socialist, and stated that he had cast a personal vote for Macclesfield's Conservative MP, Nicholas Winterton.

The death of Redhead's youngest son, William, in a car crash in France in 1982, aged 18, led him to rediscover religious faith, and he became a confirmed member of the Church of England a few months later. In the Radio 4 series The Good Book, he charted the history of the Bible.

Publications During his career he published the following books: The Bedside Guardian 10: A Selection from the Guardian 1960-1961 The Good Book: An introduction to the Bible The Anti-Booklist A Love of the Lakes The National Parks of England Wales. Plato to NATO: Studies on political thought Personal Perspectives. Manchester – a Celebration North West of England. BBC Books. 1994

Personal life Redhead married Jean (Jenni) Salmon in 1954 and had four children.

In 1993, his health started to fail and he was in pain on his left side and leg. He was thought to need hip surgery, but in fact had a ruptured appendix which was leaking toxins, causing liver and kidney failure and other problems. He took leave from Today in early December, expecting to return after Christmas, but died in January 1994.