Radio 4 show In Our Time celebrates its landmark 1,000th episode this week. Host Melvyn Bragg is one of the Beeb’s biggest stars, but it seems his salary hardly puts him on level pegging with some of the corporation’s other big names.

In an interview marking In Our Time‘s millennial episode, Bragg gently points out that he is paid 27 times less than Match of the Day host Gary Lineker – even though the two shows get similar audiences. Bragg tells the Times:

‘He is paid 27 times more than I am. Something like that. It would be great if he was paid what I was paid. That would be fine. Which is perfectly all right. He’s good, he’s very good…talks very well, knows the game inside out, nothing wrong with that. And I’m not using this to get at him. I just think this is an example of the way the BBC is in a fix.’

In Our Time has weekly listening figures in excess of two million people, compared to Match of the Day‘s three million or so views. So given these similar numbers, is it time for Lineker – who earns around £1.35 million – to take a pay cut? Mr S thinks Bragg might be on to something…