Amol Rajan
Indian journalist and broadcaster (born 1983)
Amol Rajan
|
|
---|---|
Born |
V. Amol
( 1983-07-04 ) 4 July 1983 (age 40) [1]
Calcutta
, India
(now Kolkata) |
Nationality |
Indian
British |
Other names | Amol Varadarajan |
Education | Graveney School |
Alma mater | Downing College, Cambridge |
Occupation | Journalist |
Years active | 2006–present |
Employer(s) |
BBC
Channel 5 The Independent |
Title |
Media Editor of
BBC News
(2016
–
2023)
Presenter Today (2021 – present) Presenter University Challenge (2023 – present) |
Spouse |
Charlotte Faircloth
(
m.
2013
)
|
Children | 3 |
Amol Rajan [1] (born 4 July 1983) is an Indian-born British [2] journalist, broadcaster and writer. Rajan is a former adviser to Evgeny Lebedev , Lord Lebedev of Siberia, and was appointed the editor of his newspaper The Independent in 2013. [3] When The Independent announced it was dropping the print edition in February 2016, and continuing as only an online operation , he was retained for a period as " editor-at-large ". He was the media editor of BBC News from December 2016 [4] to January 2023, [5] and has been a presenter on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 since 2021. [6] He replaced Jeremy Paxman as the host of University Challenge on 17 July 2023. [7]
Early life and education
Rajan was born in Calcutta , India , to a mother from Poona and a Tamil father from Combaconum . [1] Because of Tamil naming customs , Rajan was born V. Amol, with the V. for his father's given name of Varadarajan. [1] This name was modified to Amol Varadarajan when he came to England and the family later adopted the surname Rajan. [1]
Rajan was three when his family moved to England, [8] and was raised in Tooting , South West London . [9] The son of Hindu parents, he has said that he has been a "non-believer" in religion since the age of 15 [10] and that he does not believe in God. [11] He was educated at Graveney School [12] [8] in Tooting and graduated with a 2.2 Degree in English from Downing College, Cambridge , [13] [14] where he contributed to Varsity . [15] He was editor of the student newspaper for a term in 2005. [16] At the age of 18, Rajan worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) through his gap year. [17]
Career
Rajan was the secondary presenter on The Wright Stuff , the daytime talk show on the Five network, [18] during its 2006–2007 series. He was also a researcher on the programme.
He joined The Independent newspaper in August 2007, where he was over the next few years a news reporter, sports correspondent, columnist, comment editor, [19] and editor of Independent Voices. [20] He has also written a Monday column for the London Evening Standard and restaurant criticism for The Independent on Sunday , [20] and has contributed to The Salisbury Review . The latter publication, according to Rajan, "still publishes writing on politics, history and culture that is among the finest produced in English today. It is frequently offensive, and I cannot say I often agree with its editorial position, but that is all the more reason to read it." [21]
In 2013, aged 29, Rajan became the first non-white editor of a national newspaper in over a century when his Independent appointment was announced. [8] [12] ( Rachel Beer was editor of The Sunday Times and The Observer between 1894 and 1902. [22] ). For about eighteen months before his appointment, Rajan had been the media advisor to the Independent' s proprietor Evgeny Lebedev , the son of Alexander Lebedev , [8] [23] a former KGB economic attaché. [24] Rajan's predecessor as editor of The Independent , Chris Blackhurst , became Group Content Director. [25] When Lebedev announced a move to digital-only in February 2016, with the imminent closure of the print edition, it emerged that Rajan would remain with the company to help facilitate the change in direction. [26] During an October 2019 broadcast Rajan presented for BBC Radio 2 in 2019, journalist Peter Oborne accused Rajan of engaging in "client" and "crony" journalism. [27] [28]
Rajan's role as editor-at-large for The Independent website ended after he was appointed the BBC's first Media Editor in November 2016, and he assumed his new post on 12 December. [4] [29] He has also hosted The Big Debate on the BBC Asian Network . [30]
Since 2017, Rajan has provided holiday cover for several presenters on BBC Radio 2, including Simon Mayo , [31] Jeremy Vine [32] [33] and Zoe Ball . [34] Rajan has occasionally presented The One Show . [35] From May 2017 he presented The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 in succession to Steve Hewlett , although he stepped down from that role when he joined the presenting team of the Today programme in 2021. [6] [36]
In August 2022 it was announced that Rajan would take over from Jeremy Paxman as the host of University Challenge for the 53rd series . [7] Rajan had himself appeared on Christmas University Challenge (a version for celebrity alumni) in December 2020, representing Downing College . [37] He made his first appearance as question-master on 17 July 2023.
In June 2023 Rajan secured an interview for the BBC with former TV presenter Phillip Schofield , the first on TV since Schofield's resignation from ITV [38] in May 2023.
Opinions on the royal family
The Guardian wrote, "Amol Rajan, (...) is a declared republican who once branded the royal family as 'absurd' and the media as a 'propaganda outlet' for the monarchy ." [39] In 2021, he publicly apologised for comments made in a 2012 article he wrote for The Independent , in which he described Prince Philip as a "racist buffoon" and Prince Charles (now Charles III ) as "scientifically illiterate", and for an open letter he sent to Prince William and his wife Catherine while the two were expecting their first child , in which he described their public role as a "total fraud", the Queen's Diamond Jubilee as a "celebration of mediocrity", and the royal family as a clan "unusually full of fools". [40]
In November 2021, the BBC broadcast The Princes and the Press , a two-part documentary presented by Rajan that explored the relationship between the royal family and the media. [41] He also narrated the BBC podcast Harry, Meghan and the Media , which was released in January 2022. [42] [43]
Personal life
Rajan is a cricket enthusiast, [44] and plays for the Authors XI . [45] His first book, Twirlymen, the Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers , was published by Random House in 2011. [46] In September 2013, he married the academic Charlotte Faircloth, in Cambridge. [47] [48] [49] They live in London and have three children. [47] [50]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rajan, Amol (17 March 2018). "Two words, nine letters and the endless, infinite trauma of my name" . New Statesman . Retrieved 26 December 2020 .
-
↑
Paul, Molly (2 June 2023).
"The career rise of BBC's Amol Rajan"
.
PeopleWorld
. Retrieved
8 August
2023
.
{{ cite web }}
: CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) - ↑ Halliday, Josh (17 June 2013). "Amol Rajan appointed as Independent editor" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 July 2023 .
- 1 2 "Amol Rajan appointed as BBC's first media editor" . BBC News. 21 November 2016 . Retrieved 21 November 2016 .
- ↑ @amolrajan (9 January 2023). "1/ So after 6 years, I'm no longer the BBC's Media Editor" (Tweet) – via Twitter .
- 1 2 "Amol Rajan" . BBC . Retrieved 27 January 2022 .
- 1 2 "Amol Rajan announced as new University Challenge host" (Press release). BBC Media Centre. 18 August 2022 . Retrieved 18 August 2022 .
- 1 2 3 4 Halliday, Josh (17 June 2013). "Amol Rajan appointed as Independent editor" . The Guardian . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (13 November 2012). "From Tooting to Islington, our high streets are bereft of buzz and variety" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (6 January 2012). "Belief without a faith to follow" . The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 12 June 2016 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (27 December 2011). "Religious lessons of Christmas for a non-believer" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 21 November 2021.
- 1 2 "The Independent's Amol Rajan Becomes UK's First Non-White National Editor" . The Huffington Post . 17 June 2013.
- ↑ "Asian Network;s Big Debate: Amol Rajan" . BBC Asian Network . Retrieved 12 June 2020 .
- ↑ admin (21 January 2016). "Downing Magazine and College Record" . Downing College Cambridge . Retrieved 17 July 2023 .
- ↑ Sweney, Mark; Johnston, Chris (12 February 2016). "Independent aims to keep stars and boost quality in digital shift" . The Guardian . Retrieved 16 February 2016 .
- ↑ Boycott, Rosie (17 April 2005). "What I learnt from a night with Daisy" . The Observer .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (14 August 2014). "Weakening the Foreign Office puts us all in peril" . Evening Standard . London . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (16 September 2010). "Still top of the morning: Channel Five's The Wright Stuff turns 10" . The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010.
- ↑ "Amol Rajan" . David Higham, Literary, Film & TV agents . Archived from the original on 19 August 2014.
- 1 2 "Amol Rajan" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 24 October 2015 . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (15 March 2012). "Sooner or later, every voice is heard and heeded" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 25 November 2012.
- ↑ Martyris, Nina (19 June 2013). "The First Lady of Fleet Street" . Prospect . Archived from the original on 26 February 2014.
- ↑ Turvill, first (16 September 2014). "Independent editor Amol Rajan: 'There's nothing unclear about it, the future's digital' " . Press Gazette . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (29 July 2017). "Is the Independent still independent?" . BBC News . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Turvill, William (17 June 2013). "Amol Rajan is made editor of The Independent as Chris Blackhurst becomes group content director" . Press Gazette . London.
- ↑ Armstrong, Ashley (12 February 2016). "The Independent newspaper confirms an end to print production" . The Daily Telegraph . London . Retrieved 12 February 2016 . (subscription required)
- ↑ Tobitt, Charlotte (25 October 2019). "Peter Oborne weekly Daily Mail political column ends as he rounds on political press" . Press Gazette . London . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ Scott, Callum Alexander (13 December 2019). "Establishment journalists have betrayed the ideals of the Fourth Estate" . OpenDemocracy . Retrieved 12 March 2021 .
- ↑ "Former Independent editor Amol Rajan named BBC's new media editor" . The Independent . London. 21 November 2016. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016 . Retrieved 21 November 2016 .
- ↑ Ponsford, Dominic (21 November 2016). "Amol Rajan appointed as the BBC's first media editor" . Press Gazette . Retrieved 26 December 2020 .
- ↑ "BBC Radio 2 - Simon Mayo Drivetime, Amol Rajan sits in" . BBC . Retrieved 29 July 2017 .
- ↑ "Airport Drinking and Mental Stability, Jeremy Vine - BBC Radio 2" . BBC . Retrieved 9 January 2018 .
- ↑ "Amol Rajan sits in" . BBC Radio 2 .
- ↑ "Amol Rajan sits in...joined by Peter Crouch" . BBC . Retrieved 23 May 2019 .
- ↑ Harp, Justin (24 September 2020). "The One Show suprises [ sic ] Mercury Prize 2020 winner on air in live TV reveal" . Digital Spy . Retrieved 26 December 2020 .
- ↑ "Amol Rajan announced as presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Media Show" (Press release). BBC Media Centre. 28 April 2017 . Retrieved 28 April 2017 .
- ↑ Steerpike (18 August 2022). "Amol Rajan's University Challenge disaster" . The Spectator . Retrieved 16 July 2023 .
- ↑ "Schofield apologises and says his career is over" . BBC News . 2 June 2023 . Retrieved 2 June 2023 .
- ↑ "The Princes and the Press review – more degrading airing of the royal dirty laundry" . The Guardian . 23 November 2021.
- ↑ Furness, Hannah (2 December 2021). "BBC media editor apologises for calling Duke and Duchess of Cambridge 'total frauds' in royal documentary impartiality row" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 4 December 2021 .
- ↑ Hyde, Marina (3 December 2021). "The princes and the press have a true 'special relationship' – only one side thinks it's real" . The Guardian . Retrieved 6 January 2022 .
-
↑
Dooney, Emma (13 December 2021).
"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry face major setback after controversial BBC documentary"
.
Woman & Home
. Retrieved
7 January
2022
.
The upcoming series, titled 'Harry, Meghan and the Media', will be presented by Amol Rajan and seeks to examine "allegations of sexism, racism and strategic leaks" within Buckingham Palace.
- ↑ "Harry, Meghan and the Media" . BBC Radio . Retrieved 7 January 2022 – via Apple Podcasts.
- ↑ Hasan Suroor. "Amol Rajan makes Fleet Street history" . The Hindu .
- ↑ "My Education Blog" . theauthorsxi.com .
- ↑ Andy Bull "Rejoicing in the Twirlymen and the forgotten art of medium-paced spin" , guardian.co.uk (blog), 17 May 2011
- 1 2 Wilkins, Bridie (30 November 2020). "Amol Rajan's home is guaranteed to put a smile on your face – see inside" . Hello! . Retrieved 7 April 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (9 September 2013). "Five good reasons why I am ready to be wed" . London Evening Standard .
- ↑ "Dr Charlotte Faircloth" . UCL IRIS . Retrieved 7 April 2021 .
- ↑ Rajan, Amol (21 December 2020). "The winners: The 2020 Russell Prize for best writing" . BBC News . Retrieved 7 April 2021 .
External links
- The Media Show (BBC Radio 4)
Media offices | ||
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Preceded by |
Editor of
The Independent
2013–2016 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded
by
Position established
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Media Editor:
BBC News
2016–2023 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by |
University Challenge
host
2023– |
Most recent |
The Independent |
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The Independent on Sunday |
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Series | |
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Related series | |
In popular culture | |
Hosts |