This obituary of Stephen Bonarjee appeared in The Times on September 25, 2003:

STEPHEN BONARJEE was the architect of current affairs programmes in modern radio. Thirty years after he left the BBC many of the programmes that he helped to originate are still running and have become part of the lives of Radio 4 listeners. His programmes ranged from election-night broadcasts to the old Today and the still popular You And Yours. He was essentially a product of the old BBC, a Reithian at heart but anxious for change, devoted to his profession but prepared to direct a mordant sense of humour at the foibles of the corporation as well as himself. In retirement he played a prominent part in the affairs of the Liberal Party and the Church of England.

For him the corridors of power were in the gloomy fourth-floor passages at Broadcasting House where, in the traditions of the organisation, he had to deal with rivals and detractors. In such situations he excelled. There was a determined effort at one point to cut down his influence, but eventually he emerged with even more airtime and, almost as important in BBC terms, control of the hospitality room.

Bonarjee was born in Erith, the son of an Indian father and Scottish mother. His father had been a civil servant with the Indian Army department in Simla, and his uncle was one of the founders of the Congress Party. In a reversal of the usual missionary roles, his father decided to come to Britain to do what he could to convert the country to Christianity. He failed in his aim to be ordained in the Church of England but became a highly popular Congregational minister in Brighton.

Steve Bonarjee went to Caterham School, proved a useful cricketer and in a 1929 general election stood as a Liberal in his school’s mock contest and won. Then, through the influence of his mother, he went to St Andrews University before entering journalism on Yorkshire newspapers. By 1938 he was on the Manchester Guardian but in 1940 he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers, reaching the rank of captain.

Straight from demobilisation he went to the BBC as a radio producer. He left the medium briefly to go to Alexandra Palace on the news side, as assistant editor to Stuart Hood in the revived television service, but was soon back in radio where he would spend the rest of his professional life. One of his notable successes was the Today programme, which he took over in 1962 and converted to a variety of news and comment with the hugely popular but unpredictable Jack de Manio. This repeated the pattern of Bonarjee’s Ten o’Clock, which he had been allowed to introduce in 1960 on “a strictly experimental basis”. From Ten o’ Clock it was natural to give him coverage of general elections and he revolutionised the process, with psephologists, big radio names and academics. He offered the Reithian formula of information and education — with a fair amount of entertainment as well.

The Week in Westminster dated from the BBC’s early days, a sort of house journal of Parliament, produced from a sense of duty and a desire to please the people who controlled the licence fee. It was memorable for little except the fact that the spy Guy Burgess had been one of its producers. Bonarjee put it into the hands of young, talented producers, employed some of the more voluble political correspondents and ensured that it became a source of news stories as well as a record of content.

He was a prolific innovator. Programmes such as Our Own Correspondent, Start the Week and Listening Post flowed from his department. He had the formidable title of Prog. Ed. Current Affairs Sound that disguised in BBC-ese his function of almost complete control of all current affairs in radio. In the process he assembled one of the most talented teams in the corporation with Jack Ashley, Terry Boston and Christopher Capron, all to succeed either inside the corporation or out. Robin Day was also given his chance, as an apprentice producer, but it was not a success. Day was only too happy to escape to ITN and fame in front of the camera. He was pleased much later to work for Bonarjee as a star of radio as well as TV.

Bonarjee was ahead of his time at the BBC in his anxiety to promote women. Several women producers who went on to successful careers believe that they owe a great deal to him in this respect. He emerged from the corporation with more admirers than detractors — not a bad achievement in the organisation. The affection in which he was held was shown by dinners at the Travellers’ Club held at regular intervals to celebrate his birthday and attended by scores of past and present members of the corporation.

Bonarjee, forced to relegate his lifelong liberalism while he was in a sensitive position in the BBC, became press secretary for the Liberal Party in 1972. Later he became broadcasting adviser to the General Synod of the Church of England, in which his father had failed to be ordained. Bonarjee was chairman of the National Liberal Club from 1994 to 1997.

He was married, briefly, during the Second World War.

Stephen Bonarjee, radio editor, was born on May 15, 1912. He died on September 14, 2003, aged 91.