NOT many women in journalism can say they had the likes of Bette Davis, Margaret Thatcher, Judi Dench and Hillary Clinton at their leaving do.

But Jenni Murray, who has signed off from Woman’s Hour after 33 years, is that kind of Dame. She played out with Helen Reddy’s feminist anthem, I Am Woman.

Her departure was a radio event on a par with the last hurrahs of Terry Wogan and Jimmy Young.

Only Ken Bruce quitting Radio 2 (which, like the ravens leaving the Tower, or Greggs ceasing production of yum-yums, can never happen), could have caused more bumping of gums in the media.

On the last show were regular guests Harriet Harman MP, Mother of the Commons, the Makar, Jackie Kay, her fellow Scot Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, and Jude Kelly, director of the WOW (Women of the World) Foundation. Mary Berry had sent a chocolate cake.

The discussion took in everything from the pandemic to the future of feminism. Tributes were paid to Ms Murray, 70, along the way.

Ms Harman said their generation was the first that refused to choose between staying at home and bringing up children, or going out to work and prioritising a career.

“We were going to try to do both. That was an incredible, huge, social and economic revolution which was invisible to most of the broadcasting world but Woman’s Hour, with you right at the heart of it, you made the space for all of these issues to be discussed. Day in, day out, we all could hear each other and talk to each other.”

The Makar asked what it felt like to be presenting her last Woman’s Hour.

“It’s very, very strange,” said Ms Murray, revealing that studio managers had put a blue plaque on her chair to mark the occasion.

Her departure starts a round of musical chairs for women in radio. Jane Garvey, co-host, leaves Woman’s Hour at the end of the year for her own interview show on Radio 4. Emma Barnett will take over as the programme’s main presenter in January.

At BBC Radio Scotland a shake up took place last year, with Hayley Millar and Mhairi Stuart becoming co-presenters of Lunchtime Live. From Monday to Friday on the station, women presenters outnumber men eight to six.

Back on Radio 4, it was time for that ritual familiar to all leaving dos: remembering the best bits.

Ms Murray said she had interviewed so many extraordinary men and women, “some of whom were a delight to interview, others rather less so”.

Margaret Thatcher terrified her, she admitted. Sally Feldman, a former editor of Woman’s Hour, said Murray used to be sick with nerves before her encounters with the Conservative Prime Minister.

In general, she was “fearless” in her questions, asking Gordon Brown whether he thought it was okay to be in charge of his wife’s tax returns.

There were memories of Hillary Clinton, reuniting fellow guest Shirley Williams with her forgotten handbag; meeting Bette Davis, who recited her famous line, “Fasten your seatbelts …”; Lauren Bacall, recalling the first goodnight kiss from Bogart; giggling with Judi Dench; and being teased by Victoria Wood.

Maya Angelou was the most charming woman she had ever met, Toni Morrison one of the cleverest. The peak of her career was meeting Joan Baez. She said hearing Baez perform the song Diamonds And Rust in the studio left her “sobbing inside because she was so wonderful”.

Born in Barnsley, Dame Jenni joined BBC Radio Bristol in 1973. In 1983, she went to Newsnight before moving to the Today programme.

She became the regular presenter of Woman’s Hour in 1987. In 2006, she shared her diagnosis of breast cancer with the audience. She was made a dame in 2011.