John confirmed the news to listeners this morning and said he would miss his spot on the flagship Radio 4 current affairs show.
The Today presenter will leave the BBC show later this year in the autumn.
He told Radio 4’s The World at One: “I love doing the programme, I have always enjoyed it, always loved it.
“And I still [do], that’s the problem. I should have gone years ago, obviously I should have gone years ago, but I love doing the programme.”
I should have gone years ago, obviously I should have gone years ago, but I love doing the programme
John Humphrys
Sarah Montague, who worked alongside John on the show for 18 years, spoke to the departing host.
John told Sarah: “As you know, when you do this programme it dominates your life, not just because you have to get up in the morning so many days a week, but all the time, you have to be obsessed - I think that is the right word - with what’s going on out there.
“You have to read everything and listen to everything and all the rest of it.
“There are so many things you think, ‘Oh I could have done this, I could have done that’ and I’m never going to do them if I stay on this programme.”
He went on to say he had “lost his nerve” during previous attempts to leave the show.
John said: “I worry about missing the programme… I genuinely worry about what it is going to be
