Julian Holland

Julian Holland (1925–2001) was an English journalist and radio editor. He was the editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme from 1981 to 1986.

Early life Holland was born in Farnworth in Lancashire on 29 March 1925; his father was a printer whose business was badly hit by the Great Depression. The family moved to Bolton and then to Birmingham, where Holland attended King Edward's School; there, he befriended Kenneth Tynan.

Career On leaving school at the age of 18, Holland began working at the BBC (he was unable to serve in the military during the Second World War due to eyesight problems). He worked on Radio Newsreel before leaving the BBC in 1954 to work in print journalism, he returned to the BBC as a producer and editor on its news and current affairs radio programme The World at One; Today received the Sony Award in 1985, the year before Holland retired from the BBC.

Holland had a reputation for being "fearlessly confrontational" and "pugnacious", though also loyal to friends. He died on 2 November 2001; he was survived by his second wife, the producer Carole Lacey (his first marriage to Rosemary Say having ended in divorce) and two daughters from his first marriage.