Editing Start the Week (section)

===Melvyn Bragg (1988&ndash;1998)===
After Harty's death, several presenters were tried out, including [[Kate Adie]], [[Sue Lawley]], [[George Melly]] and Melvyn Bragg.<ref name="indepnotes"/> During Bragg's tenure the programme gained "a new reputation for ''[[gravitas]]''";<ref>David Hendy ''Life on Air: A History of Radio Four'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, p.309</ref> and also a larger audience, which by 1996 was "at one to one and a half million, slightly more than the far more [[Middlebrow|middle-brow]] programmes such as ''[[Midweek (BBC Radio 4)|Midweek]]'', ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' and ''[[Loose Ends (radio)|Loose Ends]]'', which occupy the slot on other days."<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/do-we-need-start-the-week-1344014.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121103175838/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/do-we-need-start-the-week-1344014.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= 3 November 2012 | title=Do we need ''Start the Week''? | first=Peter |last=Popham | publisher=[[The Independent]] | date=25 March 1996| access-date=18 May 2011}}</ref>

According to ''[[The Independent]]'', "rows, however innocuous some of them seemed at the time, have become a trademark under Bragg: among the most notable have been [[Ben Elton]] vs [[Brenda Maddox]], [[Rosie Boycott]] and Bragg vs novelist [[Kathy Lette]], [[Armistead Maupin]] vs [[Libby Purves]], and Bragg himself vs (separately) [[Joan Smith]], [[Michael Dobbs]], [[William Cash]], [[Tony Parsons (British journalist)|Tony Parsons]] and [[Jean Aitchison]].<ref name="indepnotes"/>

The programme's prominence in Radio 4's schedule meant that Bragg's elevation to the [[House of Lords]] as a [[life peer]] necessitated Bragg's relinquishing of an involvement in the programme.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.theguardian.com/Columnists/Column/0,,1500897,00.html |title=Plato or Nietzsche? You choose | date= 7 June 2005| publisher=[[The Guardian]]| access-date=18 May 2011}}</ref>