14 Facts About Brian Redhead

Brian Leonard Redhead was a British author, journalist and broadcaster.

Brian Redhead was a co-presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death.

Brian Redhead was a great lover and promoter of the city of Manchester and the North West in general, where he lived for most of his career.

Brian Redhead was the only child of Ernest Leonard Redhead, a silk screen printer and advertising agent, and his wife, Janet Crossley.

Brian Redhead married Jean Salmon on 19 June 1954.

Brian Redhead became northern editor of The Guardian in 1965, and editor of the Manchester Evening News in 1969.

Brian Redhead was already an experienced broadcaster, having been 'discovered' around 1960 by a BBC Manchester producer, Olive Shapley, who was looking for a presenter of a television programme called Something to Read:.

Later, Redhead presented Points North on television, and chaired the Saturday night Radio 4 topical conversation programme A Word in Edgeways for many years.

Brian Redhead formed a partnership with fellow Today presenter John Timpson which lasted for over 10 years.

The feeling was that Brian Redhead was to the left of his co-presenter John Timpson.

However, Brian 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.

Brian Redhead was a strong supporter of the hospice movement, ambiguously calling it "the best thing that has happened in this country since the Second World War".

Brian Redhead 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.

Brian Redhead took leave from Today in early December, expecting to return after Christmas, but died in January 1994.