Best of Today

Today's third guest editor this Christmas is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained for six years in Iran - before being freed and coming home nine months ago. Hear highlights from her programme including the voices of families of current political prisoners in Iran and Nazanin speaking to chef Yotam Ottolenghi about why one of his recipes has a special resonance for her - and about the solidarity that can be found in food and cooking. Nazanin also has an emotional encounter with tennis ace Andy Murray - she tells him how, while in solitary confinement, she was able to watch him win Wimbledon in 2016 and the joy that brought her. With her husband Richard, she also reflects on trying to get back to normal life against the backdrop of the current uprising and arrests in Iran.

Today's second guest editor this Christmas is Jamie Oliver, the chef, entrepreneur and campaigner. Hear highlights from his programme in our Best of Today podcast, including interviews with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne about expanding free lunches in schools and providing a healthy array of options for students. Jamie Oliver has been open about his struggles in school with dyslexia. He says he was told he was taught alongside those with special needs. Jamie wanted to speak to the rapper Loyle Carner, who has ADHD about his struggles at school and what food means to him.

Today's first guest editor this Christmas is Lord Botham, Ian "Beefy" Botham, former England all-rounder, now crossbench peer and UK Trade Envoy to Australia.Hear highlights from his programme in our Best of Today podcast, including an interview with the current England Cricket captain Ben Stokes, about the future of the Test format of the game. It was a chance meeting after a freak injury in 1977 which first put Lord Botham on the path to nearly four decades of fundraising. He reflects on that moment and looks at advances in the treatment of childhood leukaemia, a cause for which he has raised millions of pounds, with the BBC's medical editor Fergus Walsh.

The Today programme has asked some well-known faces to talk about the walks they do and why they’re so important to them at this time of year. Author Joanne Harris, best known for her novel Chocolat, describes her favourite walk from Almondbury, near Huddersfield, and up to Castle Hill. (Image credit: Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty Images)

The Today programme has asked some well-known faces to talk about the walks they do and why they’re so important to them as part of a winter walks series. Author Hunter Davies, best known for the only authorised biography of the Beatles, describes his favourite walk along Ryde Sands on the Isle of Wight. (Image Credit: Laura Palmer/BBC)

The Today programme has asked some well-known voices to tell us about their favourite walks at this time of year. Novelist and journalist Jojo Moyes - best known for 'Me Before You' - describes a walk where she is often accompanied by her dogs in Essex, and how it’s helped her when life is challenging.(Image Credit: Jojo Moyes)

The Today programme has asked some well-known faces to talk about the walks they do and why they’re so important to them as part of a winter walks series.Author Michelle Gallen, who wrote 'Big Girl, Small Town' and 'Factory Girls', describes her favourite walk near her childhood home in Castlederg, West Tyrone.(Image Credit: Deci Gallen)

The Today programme has asked some well-known faces to talk about the walks they do and why they’re so important to them as part of a winter walks series.Author Michael Morpurgo, best known for children's novel War Horse, describes his favourite stroll near his home in Devon.

The Today programme has asked some well-known faces to talk about the walks they do and why they’re so important to them as part of a winter walks series.The poet, who was National Poet of Wales from 2008 to 2016, Gillian Clarke has chosen a path close to her home in Ceredigion.

The Today programme invites some well known faces to speak about their favourite winter walk.Novelist and history writer Kate Mosse describes her walk through Fishbourne Marshes, near Chichester in West Sussex, from the old duck pond round to Bosham and back again.(Image credit: James Watkins/ BBC)

The Today programme is inviting some famous faces to speak about their favourite winter walk. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage describes his walks up Pule Hill, the high point above Marsden and an exposed look-out post over Yorkshire, Lancashire and a high corner of Derbyshire. (Image, Simon Armistage, Credit, Emma Gibbs, BBC)

The Today programme is inviting some famous faces to describe their favourite winter walk. Actor Rory Kinnear lovingly tells of walking his son and daughter to school.(Image, Rory Kinnear, Credit, Sarah Jeynes, BBC)

Michael O’Leary has been Chief Executive of Ryanair since 1994, and was appointed CEO of Ryanair Holdings, Europe’s largest airline group, in 2019. He’s been speaking to Today’s business presenter Sean Farrington about his unhappiness with post-Brexit Britain, the impact of inflation on his business, and why we’ve probably seen the last of the €10 flight.(Image, Michael O'Leary; Credit, Getty Images)

Dame Sharon White is the Chairman of John Lewis Partnership. Overseeing a team of 80,000 partners working at branches and offices of supermarket Waitrose and department store John Lewis around the country, White took over the retailer in February 2020.She talks to Today’s business presenter Sean Farrington about the number of people who have left the labour market since covid and the impact she believes it could have on the economy.(Image, Dame Sharon White, Credit, John Lewis Partnership)

Jacky Wright is the Chief Digital Officer and Corporate Vice President at Microsoft US. For her Today guest edit, she asked whether young people are being taught the skills they need for the workplaces and jobs of the future. She grew up in Tottenham, North London, and went back for the programme, asking A level students at a school there what they thought would make them employable.She also used the programme to explore what everyday life was like for the generation of multiracial children born during World War Two.Jacky spoke about the importance of role models with one of her own: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and the first elected female head of state in Africa.And there was also time for her to talk about her love of CSI with the show’s creator Anthony Zuiker.

Mina Smallman, guest edited our first Today programme of 2022. Mina is a former Church of England archdeacon and school principal, who began campaigning on violence against women and equity in how victims are seen after two of her daughters were murdered. Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry were murdered in a London park in 2020.For her programme Mina invited Mishal Husain to accompany her and her family and friends on a difficult visit back to the place where Nicole and Bibaa died, where a tree was being planted in their memory.Mina also used her programme to highlight the work of Victim Support and chaplains working in prisons, hospitals and rural communities.Photo: PA

Dr Jane Goodall is a primatologist, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace. She is best known for revolutionising the world's understanding of chimpanzees.She used her Today guest edit to explore some of the ways we can inspire change to protect animals and our environment. She asked the BBC’s Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, to look at the links between poverty and climate change. The programme featured reporting from Tanzania where 30 years ago Jane challenged a group of students to take action to protect the wildlife in their towns and villages. Martha Kearney interviewed the Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith on Jane’s behalf, asking him about COP 26 and trophy hunting. There’s music from Notre Dame and Jane reflects on the reaction to her work and image in the 1960s. With Martha Kearney and Mishal Husain.

General Sir Nick Carter is a retired senior army officer who served as the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff until November this year. He used his Today guest edit to focus on the fallout from the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. He spoke to former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the man in charge of the country before the Taliban takeover. He also chatted with retired racing legend AP McCoy about what his own retirement might have in store for him.Finally, Sir Nick explored his deep love of whiskey with an international blind tasting.

The England and Manchester City footballer, Raheem Sterling used his Today programme guest edit to look at the issue of social mobility, after launching his own foundation earlier this year. His programme featured reporting from Jamaica where he was born and North London where he grew up. For his programme he also sat down with England manager, Gareth Southgate, the man he credits for his transition from being a target for a hostile press to a young man now trying to be the role model which so many call on footballers to become. It also featured interviews with his mum Nadine and his sporting hero Usain Bolt. With Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson.

Today programme guest editor, the England and Manchester City player, Raheem Sterling wanted discuss what he, his team mates and the country had learned following the Euros this summer. For his programme he sat down with England manager, Gareth Southgate, the man he credits for his transition from being a target for a hostile press to a young man now trying to be the role model which so many call on footballers to become. Nick Robinson travelled to St George’s Park to meet them both.