''Songs of Praise'' is a
BBC Television religious programme that presents
Christian hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...
s sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK.
The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the
Tabernacle Baptist Church in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
. It is one of the
longest running series of its genre on television anywhere in the world.
Presenters and contributors
Presenters of the show have included Kwame Kwei-Armah,
Geoffrey Wheeler,
Michael Barratt,
Cliff Michelmore
Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer.
He is best known for the BBC television programme '' Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's t ...
,
Sir Harry Secombe
Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...
,
Alan Titchmarsh,
Roger Royle
Roger Michael Royle (born 30 January 1939) is a British Anglican priest and broadcaster. He is known for having presented the '' Sunday Half Hour'' programme on BBC Radio 2 for 17 years from 1990 to 2007.
Early life and education
Royle was b ...
,
Debbie Thrower
Debbie Thrower (born 17 November 1957 in Nairobi, Kenya) is an English journalist and broadcaster who presented BBC national news bulletins in the 1980s and ITV Meridian's flagship news programme ''Meridian Tonight'' (southern edition) from its ...
,
Bruce Parker
Bruce Rodney Wingate Parker, (born 20 July 1941) is a British journalist and television presenter whose career spanned the mid-1960s to 2003, when he retired.
Career
Strongly committed to regional broadcasting, he was responsible in the mid-1 ...
, Ian Gall,
Martin Bashir
Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...
,
Huw Edwards
Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents ''BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast.
Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, th ...
,
,
Josie d'Arby,
Jonathan Edwards,
Steve Chalke,
David Grant,
Bill Turnbull
William Robert Jolyon Turnbull (25 January 1956 – 31 August 2022) was an English television and radio presenter and journalist, whose broadcasting career spanned over four decades. He began his career working for radio stations including Rad ...
,
Sally Magnusson
Sally Anne Magnusson (born 1955) is a Scottish broadcast journalist, television presenter and writer, who currently presents the Thursday and Friday night edition of BBC Scotland's ''Reporting Scotland''. She also presents ''Tracing Your Roots' ...
,
Diane-Louise Jordan
Diane Johnson (born 28 June 1960), better known by her stage name Diane Louise Jordan, is a British television presenter. She was the first black presenter of the children's television programme ''Blue Peter'', being involved in the programme fro ...
,
Connie Fisher
Connie Fisher (born 17 June 1983) is a British actress, singer and TV presenter, who won the BBC One talent contest, '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?''
On 15 November 2006, she opened to excellent reviews in the part of Maria von Trapp ...
and
Dan Walker.
Guest presenters have included Sir
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
,
Gavin Peacock
Gavin Keith Peacock (born 18 November 1967) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit.
As a player he was midfielder and striker from 1984 until 2002, notably playing in the Premier League for Newcastle United ...
,
Michael Buerk
Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's '' The Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...
,
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Water ...
,
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the ...
and
Caron Keating
Caron Louisa Keating (5 October 1962 – 13 April 2004) was a Northern Irish television presenter.
Early life and education
Keating was born on 5 October 1962 in Fulham, west London, to an English father with southern Irish roots and a Northern ...
. Jonathan Edwards' departure from the programme in 2007 was notable after he publicly