Week Ahead: Jenni Murray to leave Woman’s Hour as London Marathon runners race in ‘secure biosphere’

MURRAY MOVES ON

Barnsley-born Dame Jenni Murray will present her final Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday after it was announced in July she would be stepping down from the programme after 33 years.

The veteran broadcaster, 70, is the longest serving presenter of Woman’s Hour in the show’s 74-year history and said this summer she felt the time was right to go.

“I’ve spent nearly half my life with Woman’s Hour and it’s been a privilege ‎and delight to inform, educate and entertain a loyal and growing audience of women and men,” she said. “Saying goodbye will be very hard to do, but it’s time to move on.”

With Jane Garvey also leaving the show at the end of this year, Newsnight and BBC Radio 5 Live host Emma Barnett has been named as one of their replacements.

Barnett will be the long-running programme’s main presenter from next year. She will host from Monday to Thursday and a second presenter will be announced for the Friday and Saturday instalments.

TORY VISION

The Conservative Party conference will take place virtually this year, after the originally-planned event in Birmingham had to changed as a result of coronavirus.

But the four-day event, which gets under way on Saturday, is still likely to dominate the news cycle as it takes place in the midst of fears of further lockdown restrictions as the spread of Covid continues and with the end of the Brexit transition period less than two months away.

The highlights of the opening weekend will be Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaking on Saturday, with Home Secretary Priti Patel giving her address on Sunday.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have also had to swap their planned conferences for virtual events in recent weeks.

AMERICA TUNES IN

The first of three televised debates between Donald Trump and Joe Biden takes place on Tuesday, with tens of millions in the United States and across the world expected to tune in.

While Biden leads in the polls ahead of November’s election, Democrats will be more than aware that the same was true of Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The 90-minute debate between Trump and Biden will be moderated by veteran Fox News broadcaster Chris Wallace and will take place in Cleveland.

The topics up for discussion are the political records of both men, the American response to Covid-19, the integrity of the election and race and violence in US cities. Each segment will last for around 15 minutes following a question by Wallace.

MARATHON EFFORT

After months of hard work, the London Marathon will take place in very different circumstances to normal this weekend. Elite races for men, women and wheelchair athletes will take place on an enclosed looped course in St James’s Park in what is being called ‘a secure biosphere’ (a contained safe environment like that of Formula 1 and England cricket) and times will be eligible for Olympic qualification.

Meanwhile, thousands of amateur runners who had won a place are being encouraged to complete a virtual marathon on a course of their choice so they can still raise money for the favoured charities - many of whom have been hit extremely hard by the Covid pandemic.

Next year’s marathon has already been moved from the traditional April date to October 2021 in the hope of giving it the best chance of returning to normal operation.

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James Mitchinson