<P> In 1983 the long - running "Prayer for the Day", which had always gone on air at 6.50 am, was moved to 6.25 am and replaced by a "Business News" slot . It was later moved, out of Today against protest from listeners, to 5.43 am where it is still received by an appreciative audience . </P> <P> The programme has a regular slot for sports news and items,' Sports Desk', between 26 and 30 minutes past each hour, regularly presented by Garry Richardson, Jonathan Legard or Rob Bonnet and occasionally by Alison Mitchell, Karthi Gnanasegaram or Chris Dennis . If Parliament is in session the previous day there will be a summary at about 06: 50 (Yesterday in Parliament) presented by two from Robert Orchard, David Wilby, Rachel Hooper and Susan Hulme . </P> <P> Journalist and historian Peter Hennessy has made an assertion, in one of his books, that a test that the commander of a British nuclear - missile submarine must use to determine whether the UK has been the target of a nuclear attack (in which case he has sealed orders which may authorise him to fire his nuclear missiles in retaliation), is to listen for the presence of Today on Radio 4's frequencies . If a certain number of days (said to be three) pass without the programme being broadcast, that is to be taken as evidence that the orders must be executed . The true conditions are of course secret, and Hennessy has never revealed his sources for this story, leading Paul Donovan, author of a book about Today, to express some scepticism about it . However, the longwave signal of Radio 4 is capable of penetrating to surface depths where submarines can rise, although it does not have the range required to be heard at this depth far from the UK's coastal waters . </P> <P> In 2001 the Today Programme created a system of message boards allowing the users of its web site to challenge thinking on current affairs with all those contributing . Available statistics indicate the amassing, over five years, of up to 18,000 separate discussions--topic threads--sometimes with as many as 3,000 contributions per thread . However, on 16 November 2006 the programme changed its board policy so that only the producers of Today could start a thread, but all contributors could still join in with them . This action appeared to have been unattractive to past contributors and, it seems, many stopped dealing with Today in favour of other outlets . After the changes there were fewer contributions, but, on occasion, contributions made by the public were featured on - air in the Today programme . Message boards dedicated to the Today programme were discontinued around mid-2008 and listeners were invited to use the general BBC' Have Your Say' board . </P>

Former radio 4 presenter of womans hour and today