Although not a request show as such, listeners are invited to send in suggestions for the programme.
The programme was originally written and produced by Gale Pedrick and presented by John Ellison.
Ellison died in January 1974, and over the first half of the year David Davis, Martin Muncaster and David Dunhill all had short runs as presenter, before Margaret Howard took over as permanent host in July, also producing with a rotating team of co-producers.
Howard remained as the presenter until 1991, when the BBC chose not to renew her contract, a decision which caused some controversy at the time.
Chris Serle became the new host and remained so until 1998 when as part of controller James Boyle's changes to Radio 4, it started to be hosted by guest presenters each week, a format which survives to the present day.