First edition of Any Questions?

Image: Any Questions? from Taunton, Somerset, in October 1948. Major Lewis Hastings, Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, Ralph Wightman and St. John Ervine.

The longest running live discussion programme in the UK, Any Questions?, began in the West Region on 12 October 1948, with a broadcast from the Guildhall in Winchester. The format was simple, featuring "questions of the moment... put by members of the audience and answered spontaneously".

It moved to the Home Service on 13 June 1950. The original chairman was Freddie Grisewood, who was viewed as a safe person to deal with the live audience. The radio audience's feedback was encouraged with the introduction of Any Answers in 1956.

For several years Any Questions? had to contend with the Fourteen Day Rule, which forbade discussion of any subject due to be debated in parliament for two weeks beforehand. In November 1956, during the Suez crisis, the panellists revealed the absurdity of the Rule in a broadcast where they repeatedly referred to it - although they were briefly taken off the air. This incident and the attention it received in the press, contributed to the government's decision to drop the rule the following year.

Although now free to discuss anything, Any Questions? has remained largely unchanged from its beginning and continues to attract full houses wherever it appears in the country. Grisewood retired when he reached 80, since which time there have been three question masters: David Jacobs, John Timpson and Jonathan Dimbleby, who was in the chair from 1987 to 2019.