The Sunday Hour

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The Sunday Hour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sunday Hour
Other names	Sunday Half Hour (1940–2013)
Genre	Religious broadcasting
Running time	60 mins (6:00 am – 7:00 am) (30 mins until 2013)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Light Programme (1945–1967) BBC Radio 2 (1967–2018)
Hosted by	Roger Royle (1990–2007) Brian D'Arcy (2007–12) Diane-Louise Jordan (2012–17) Kate Bottley (2017–18)
Original release	14 July 1940 (1940-07-14) – 28 January 2018 (2018-01-28)
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqyr

The Sunday Hour was a long-standing show broadcast on the BBC Light Programme and then BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom, broadcast for 78 years between 14 July 1940 and 28 January 2018.^[1]

For most of its life it occupied a Sunday evening slot as Sunday Half Hour, latterly between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm but in 2013 it moved to a Sunday morning slot between 6:00 am and 7:00 am. It broadcast Christian hymns and prayer, and was one of only two remaining Christian-based shows on Radio 2, the other being Good Morning Sunday.

For its first fifty years, many presenters took part, and the entire show was hosted by a different church each week. From September 1990, the format changed so that the show was presented by a regular presenter from the studio, with recordings of hymns, some sung by a "featured choir", inserted between the discussion, prayers and dedications. Each week the show was centred on a specific theme: an event in the Church calendar, a passage of the Bible, or a more general area such as the family or the importance of carers. The longest-serving of the regular presenters was Roger Royle, an Anglican priest, who presented the show between September 1990 and April 2007. Brian D'Arcy, a Passionist priest from Northern Ireland, took over as the presenter in April 2007. Diane-Louise Jordan was the next presenter, replacing Father Brian in February 2012.^[2] Jordan announced she was leaving in July 2017.^[3] The show's final presenter was the Rev. Kate Bottley.

From 20 January 2013, the show was extended to an hour and moved to a new slot from 6:00 am to 7:00 am on Sunday mornings. The programme's name was changed to The Sunday Hour. Singer Michael Ball took over the Sunday evening slot with a new two-hour show.^[4]

The show was axed and broadcast its final show on 28 January 2018 after 78 years in favour of a brand new format for Radio 2's Sunday breakfast programme, Good Morning Sunday, starting 4 February.^[5]

Presenters

[edit]

1940–1990: Various
1990–2007: Roger Royle
2007–2012: Brian D'Arcy
2012–2017: Diane-Louise Jordan
2017–2018: Kate Bottley

References

[edit]

^ "Sunday Half Hour 70th anniversary". Sunday Half Hour. 18 July 2010. BBC Radio 2.
^ "Father Brian D'Arcy steps down from Sunday Half Hour". BBC Media Centre (Press release). BBC. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Father Brian D'Arcy, presenter of Sunday Half Hour, BBC Radio 2's weekly programme of hymns and prayers, has decided to leave the show on 29th January after a five year tenure. He hands over presenting duties to Songs Of Praise presenter Diane-Louise Jordan.
^ "Diane Louise Jordan leaves The Sunday Hour". Radio Today. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2020. Diane Louise Jordan has decided to step down from presenting The Sunday Hour on BBC Radio 2 after five years.
^ "Michael Ball joins Radio 2 in brand new Sunday night show". BBC Media Centre (Press release). BBC. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2020. On the same date, Sunday Half Hour becomes The Sunday Hour in an extended programme that moves to a morning slot and kicks off the day's faith zone from 6am.
^ "A new look to Sunday mornings on BBC Radio 2". BBC Media Centre (Press release). BBC. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2020. The new programme replaces two separate programmes – The Sunday Hour (6-7am) which was hosted by Kate Bottley, and Good Morning Sunday (7-9am), which was hosted by Clare Balding.

External links

[edit]

The Sunday Hour at BBC Online

BBC Radio 2

Shows

Current	The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews The Country Show with Bob Harris Dance Sounds of the 90s Elaine Paige on Sunday The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe The Good Groove with DJ Spoony Good Morning Sunday In Concert The Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum Junior Choice Jeremy Vine Liza Tarbuck My Life In A Mixtape Michelle Visage Owain Wyn Evans OJ Borg Pick of the Pops Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love of Hip Hop Rylan on Saturday The Radio 2 Breakfast Show The Radio 2 Rockshow with Shaun Keaveny Sunday Love Songs with Michael Ball Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Kitchen Disco Scott Mills Sounds of the 60s Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris Sounds of the 80s Sounds of the 90s Tony Blackburn's The Golden Hour Tracks Of My Years Trevor Nelson's Rhythm Nation
Former	A Long Walk With... Janice Long (2017–2019) All Time Greats/The Music Goes Round with Desmond Carrington Anneka Rice on Sunday Breakfast Special Big Band Special Best of Jazz The Chris Evans Breakfast Show Chris Evans Drivetime The David Jacobs Collection/Our Kind of Music The Day the Music Died Dance Band Days Drivetime Show with Simon Mayo & Jo Whiley The Dawn Patrol Family Favourites Folk On 2 (1970–1997) Friday Night Is Music Night/Sunday Night is Music Night From Ragtime to Rock 'n' Roll (1974) It's Been a Bad Week Jammin' Jazz Parade Listen to the Band Melodies for You Mrs Dale's Diary The Organist Entertains Nightride Parkinson's Sunday Supplement Paul O'Grady on the Wireless Pick of Radio 2 PopMaster The Russell Brand Show Rockin' with Suzi Q Radio 2 Arts Programme Round Midnight Saturday Night Jack Sing Something Simple Sport on 2 Sounds of Jazz Sounds of the 50s Summer Sounds/Summer Sports Simon Mayo Drivetime The Swing & Big Band Show with Clare Teal The Sunday Hour Sunday Soapbox Sunday Night at 10 Steve Wright in the Afternoon Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs Weekend Wogan Wake Up to Wogan Waggoners' Walk You and the Night and the Music
Special	BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Young BBC Jazz Awards BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms Radio 2 in the Park

Features, podcasts
(BBC Sounds)

Jo Whiley's Shiny Happy Playlist
Michelle Visage's Handbag Hits
OJ Borg's One Hit Wonders
Sara Cox's Half-Wower
Scott Mills's Wonder Years
Trevor Nelson's Magnificent 7
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