Editing Start the Week (section)

===Richard Baker (1970&ndash;1987)===
The original programme differed from its current form; for the first year or so it was entirely pre-recorded.<ref>Richard Baker on ''Start the Week'' (40th anniversary special), 27 December 2010</ref> Produced by Michael Ember,<ref>{{cite book| first=David |last=Hendy | title=Life on Air: A History of Radio Four | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2007 | page=236}}</ref> a flamboyant producer from the BBC Hungarian Service, the 1970 show was supposed to be intelligent banter on a weekly theme held together in a jocular fashion by Richard Baker, a well-known television newsreader. 

If that week contained Valentine's Day, for example, the show would start with some hints as to proper behaviour for that day, a bit of history, then a tape recorded by Doug Crawford, a former [[pirate radio]] DJ, consisting of a montage of music, archive recordings, opinions recorded on the street and the like, presenting the public's image of the day in question. 

After eight minutes or so, the programme returned to the live studio for anecdotes and discussion from a variety of guests. Regulars included [[Lance Percival]], a satirist from TV shows of the time who sang the ''Start the Week'' intro theme as a topical [[Calypso music|calypso]], cookery with [[Zena Skinner]].<ref name="indepnotes" /> 

The programme had a regular following but was thought to be too light-hearted and irreverent for 9.00am on Monday mornings by a new Director of Programmes.