Brains Trust

At its peak, this hugely popular BBC Radio show was listened to by up to 29% of the population and received around 4400 letters per week. Originally called 'Any Questions', the panel show invited contributors to discuss questions sent in by listeners. First aired on the forces radio service in 1941, the founding members included the biologist Sir Julian Sorell Huxley and philosopher Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad. The subjects were as assorted as their guests and topics ranged from the serious to the irreverent. In 1950, the show was transferred to BBC Television before returning to BBC Radio 3 in the 1990s, when it was presented by Dame Joan Dawson Bakewell.