‘Hello’. It’s strange to think that Melvyn Bragg has said that for the last time on In Our Time . That was how every show started – more than 1,000 of them. Each episode began with the minimal courtesy, and then we’re off: ‘Hello. In 61 AD, an east Anglian queen took on the might of the Roman empire and lost’.

All In Our Time listeners have wondered when this day would come. Bragg is 86, and with age, the episodes slowed slightly, and his voice had become slightly breathier. Bragg’s powerful mind did not wane, but his age always meant there was a time limit.

The brilliance of In Our Time has been said before, in many places. But it has to be said again, because the BBC needs to hear it. In Our Time succeeded because it did not chase ‘relevance’. In Our Time succeed

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