Lucy Porter hosts Déjà News, the latest in a series of Radio 4 panel show pilots, this Sunday and next. Here the comedian and keen quizzer talks about how the show draws from 100 years of news.

Do you think we’ll see from Déjà News that history really does repeat itself?

Absolutely! You hear old vox pops from the archive where people are talking about an energy crisis and they could have been recorded yesterday. Sometimes the only clue it’s from the 1970s is that in between sentences they sound like they’re puffing on a pipe rather than drawing on a vape.

I was born in 1973 and I was jealous that my big sister was old enough to remember the first moon landings. They’d stopped sending people to the moon altogether by the time I was born, and I thought I’d missed out forever. Now it looks like we might be heading back there, and I’d like it known that I’m very keen to go. I’ll carry Katy Perry’s luggage if necessary.

You joked about living through half the archive – how has the way we consume news changed in your lifetime?  

Well, obviously there’s so much more news now! My mum and dad used to engage with the news once a day, when they religiously watched the BBC’s Nine O’Clock News. I don’t know if they were really that bothered about current events, but my dad fancied Sue Lawley and my mum was quite keen on Michael Buerk. 

I’m a bit of a news junkie, and I listen to Radio 4 all day, plus my phone is always pinging with breaking news alerts. I don’t think I’m any more informed than my parents were, just a lot more stressed.

What’s your earliest news memory?

I remember when John Lennon died. Earlier in that year - 1980 - there had been a media frenzy when JR had been shot on the TV show Dallas, and I think I was a bit confused about whether John Lennon was a real person or a fictional character until I saw how shocked and upset my mum and dad were. 

I relied on John Craven’s Newsround for all my information. I still think it’s one of the best things the BBC has ever done, it was pitched so perfectly for kids. They didn’t shy away from the big issues, but they did always end on a nice story about a panda.

Is there a particular moment from the BBC archive which you’d love to see come up in the quiz?

Obviously anything from Newsround!

The nice thing about the quiz is that it really can cover anything from the BBC archives, so there’s a wealth of treasures to discover, and the voices of every famous person from the last century.

We all love the bloopers though really don’t we? I’ve really enjoyed the recent 20th anniversary celebrations of Guy Goma being on BBC News. They thought he was a world expert on technology in the music industry, when he’d really just popped in for a job interview. He handled it so brilliantly that it became an instant classic.

We’ve found some lovely clips from local news - regional presenters have to cover everything from church fetes to international summits with aplomb. They often have to stand out in all weathers, deal with animals and children, and keep the whole show on the road by themselves. I think they’re the true heroes of broadcasting.

• Deja News is on BBC Sounds and Radio 4 on Sundays June 14 and 21 at 4.30pm.