Phil Archer when the show began airing nationally on 1 January 1951. During his time with "The Archers", Painting wrote a best-selling book entitled "Forever Ambridge" and wrote over a thousand scripts for the show between 1966 and 1982. Painting was later inducted into the Guinness World Records for being the longest-serving actor, without a break, in a single soap opera. In later years, Painting's appearances on the show became limited due to his ill health. On 29 October 2009, two days after he had gone to the recording studio, Painting died. BBC Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, said "Norman Painting was
BBC Radio Bristol spent almost 30 years on the station between 1978 and 2007. The presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Jenni Murray started her BBC career with Radio Bristol, as did the Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid. John Howard, who produced and co-wrote the stations award winning 1979 comedy programme 'That Was The West That Was', was a regular presenter on the station in the late 70s and went on to be one of the main presenters of "You and Yours" on BBC Radio 4. The doctor and comedian Dr Phil Hammond presented a Saturday morning show called "Saturday Surgery"