Presenter signs nine-month extension to Radio 4 Today contract and will also front BBC1's Mastermind for another three years
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guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 April 2013 13.55 BST
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John Humphrys: planning to stay on at the BBC despite turning 70 in August. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, has said he has no intention of stepping down after signing a nine-month extension to his contract, which expires at the end of the year.
Humphrys, who has been a presenter on Radio 4's flagship news programme since 1987, has also signed a new three-year deal to continue fronting BBC2 quizshow Mastermind.
Humphrys, who turns 70 in August, said: "I'm not planning to pack it in just yet. I'm rather enjoying the job. I've no plans to shuffle off this mortal coil."
The short-term extension to his current two-year Today contract, which has just expired, is understood to be a result of the BBC's review of the way it pays its highest-paid stars following controversy over tax avoidance and the use of personal service companies.
The BBC is moving many of its best-known presenters from freelance contracts to a staff basis, a long-running process that has prompted criticism over the amount of time it is taking.
Humphrys, who had a personal service company many years ago, is currently employed by the corporation on a freelance basis.
It was Humphrys's interview with George Entwistle on 10 November last year that effectively sealed the fate of the then director general after just 54 days. Entwistle resigned on the steps of Broadcasting House hours after the interview.
It was fitting that it was Humphrys who interviewed Tony Hall, the BBC's new director general, when he started this week.
Hall used his appearance to announce a crackdown on the controversial big-money payoffs handed out to departing senior BBC executives, including his predecessor Entwistle.
Entwistle pledged to put another woman presenter on Today but it remains to be seen who it will be – or when it will happen.
Today's presenting team currently comprises Humphrys along with James Naughtie, Evan Davis, Justin Webb and the programme's sole female presenting voice, Sarah Montague.
The programme is seeking a new editor after Ceri Thomas, in charge since 2006, was appointed the new head of programmes at BBC News in the ongoing shakeup of the division's senior management in the wake of the Savile scandal.
BBC News had not responded to calls at the time of publication.
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