The BBC has revealed the line up of guest editors invited to take part in the Today show between Christmas and New Year – and despite speculation that Katie Price might make an appearance the name of the former glamour model isn’t included.
Speculation was rife last week that the model turned bestselling author was being lined-up as one of the show’s several annual guest editors.
However, the BBC confirmed late on Friday that Price – formerly known as Jordan – wasn’t among this year’s five guest editors.
This year’s guest editors are: Diana Athill, literary editor and memoirist; Oscar-nominated actor Colin Firth; artist and film maker Sam Taylor-Wood; Oldie editor and co-founder of Private Eye Richard Ingrams and Dame Clara Furse, business woman and former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange.
Related
However, Ceri Thomas, editor of Today, outlined on Friday how the BBC radio’s flagship news and current affairs programme had been in talks with Price.
‘Here’s the news,’wrote Thomas on the BBC Editors blog. ‘We’ve been talking to Katie about doing something with Today, and we’re still talking.
‘Katie Price inhabits a world a million miles from the one that Today usually occupies, but that’s not a reason for us to ignore it.
Content from our partners
‘Maybe she could tell us something interesting about the way a part of this country works? That’s what we ask from anyone who comes on the programme.”
In the meantime, this year’s yuletide shows will include Diana Athill, a staunch atheist, asking Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams what faith, or the lack of it, tells us about a person.
Firth’s programme will ask how effective international aid is and will also see Dame Edna Everage and John Humphrys reunited.
Sam Taylor-Wood investigates whether childbirth is now seen as a medical problem rather than a natural process, and examines the role of women in Hollywood.
Richard Ingrams talks to Peter O’Toole and reopens the case of James Hanratty, hanged for murder in 1961. He also investigates what makes a good broadcast voice.
Dame Clara Furse will ask whether undue focus has been placed on the role of the banks in precipitating the financial crisis. She also explores the British tendency for self-deprecation and asks why girls are outperforming boys at school.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
