Perish the Thought for the Day, please

Spare a thought for Sir Richard Eyre the next time you hear the Today programme’s Thought for the Day — he hates it. The theatre director, enjoying rave reviews for his production of The Dark Earth and the Light Sky at the Almeida, tells the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine that it is a “pet hate”.

“It is so sanctimonious,” he says. “I find it laughable that it relies on scripture written 1,000 years ago as authority for someone thinking of doing something today. It’s the Marmite event of BBC radio. Some people will not countenance it being removed. I grit my teeth every time it comes on and endure it but it is mercifully short.” Amen to that.