About Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author, and parliamentarian. Earlier in his career, Bragg worked for the BBC in various roles including presenter, a connection that resumed in 1988 when he began to host Start the Week on BBC Radio 4. He was also the editor and presenter of The South Bank Show (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and served as Chancellor of the University of Leeds from 1999 until 2017. After his ennoblement in 1998, he switched to presenting the new BBC Radio 4 documentary series In Our Time, an academic discussion radio programme, which has run to more than one thousand broadcast editions and is also a podcast. In September 2025, Bragg announced that he would step down from hosting the show after 27 years. == Early life == Bragg was born on 6 October 1939 in Carlisle and was raised in Wigton, Cumberland, the son of Stanley Bragg, a stock keeper turned publican, and Mary Ethel (née Park), who worked alongside her husband in the pub. Both the Braggs and Parks, Cumberland families, were agricultural labourers, also working at collieries and in domestic service. He was given the name Melvyn by his mother after she saw the actor Melvyn Douglas at a local cinema. He was raised in the small town of Wigton, where he attended the Wigton primary school and later The Nelson Thomlinson Grammar School, where he was Head Boy. He was an only child, born a year after his parents married.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.