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Amol Rajan (born 4 July 1983) is an Indian-born British

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and broadcaster who has been the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

's Media Editor since December 2016 and a presenter on the ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

since 2021. Rajan was editor of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' newspaper from June 2013. When ''The Independent'' announced it was dropping the print edition in February 2016, and continuing as only an online operation, Rajan was retained for a period as " editor-at-large". In August 2022, it was announced that Rajan will take over from

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...

as the host of ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

'' from autumn 2023 onwards.

Early life and education

Rajan was born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, to a mother from Poona and a Tamil father from Combaconum. Due to Tamil naming customs, Rajan was born V. Amol, with the V. for his father's given name of Varadarajan. This name was modified to Amol Varadarajan when he came to England, and the family later changed their surname to Rajan. Rajan was three when his family moved to England, and was raised in Tooting, South West London. The son of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

parents, he has not believed in God since the age of 15. He was state school educated at Graveney School and read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he contributed to '' Varsity''. He was editor of the student newspaper for a term in 2005. At the age of 18, Rajan worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for one year during his gap year.

Career

Rajan was the secondary presenter on ''

The Wright Stuff ''The Wright Stuff'' is a British television chat show which was hosted by former tabloid journalist Matthew Wright from 2000 until 2018. It aired on Channel 5 on weekday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15am. The series characterised itself as "Br ...

'', the daytime talk show on the Five network, during its 2006–2007 series. He was also a researcher on the programme. He joined ''

'' newspaper in August 2007, where he was over the next few years a news reporter, sports correspondent, columnist, comment editor, and editor of Independent Voices. He has also written a Monday column for the ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' and restaurant criticism for '' The Independent on Sunday'', and has contributed to ''

The Salisbury Review ''The Salisbury Review'' is a quarterly British magazine of conservative thought. It was founded in 1982 by the Salisbury Group, who sought to articulate and further traditional intellectual conservative ideas. The ''Review'' was named after Robe ...

''. 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." 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, (

Rachel Beer Rachel Beer (''née'' Sassoon; 7 April 1858 – 29 April 1927) was an Indian-born British newspaper editor. She was editor-in-chief of ''The Observer'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Rachel Sassoon was born in Bombay to Sassoon David Sas ...

was the first, as editor of ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Observer''.) His predecessor as editor of ''The Independent'', Chris Blackhurst, became Group Content Director. When ''The Independent'' proprietor

Evgeny Lebedev Evgeny Alexandrovich Lebedev, Baron Lebedev ( rus, Евгений Александрович Лебедев, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lebedev, ; born 8 May 1980), is a Russian-British businessman, who owns Lebedev Holdings Ltd, which in turn own ...

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. For about eighteen months before becoming editor of ''The Independent'', Rajan was the media advisor to Lebedev, the son of

Alexander Lebedev Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev ( rus, Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; born 16 December 1959) is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of t ...

, a former KGB economic attaché. During an October 2019 broadcast Rajan presented for BBC Radio 2 in 2019, journalist

Peter Oborne Peter Alan Oborne (; born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the former chief political commentator of ''The Daily Telegraph'', from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of ''The Rise of Political Lying'', ''Th ...

accused Rajan of engaging in "client" and "crony" journalism. 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. He has also hosted ''The Big Debate'' on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

. Since 2017, Rajan has provided holiday cover for several presenters on BBC Radio 2, including Simon Mayo,

Jeremy Vine Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio personality, presenter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guest ...

and

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' and '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & ...

. Rajan has occasionally presented '' The One Show''. From May 2017 he presented ''

The Media Show ''The Media Show'' is a weekly British current affairs radio programme and podcast on BBC Radio 4 which examines the current state of the media. The first episode was broadcast at 13:30 on 1 October 2008 and since May 2017 has been presented by ...

'' on

in succession to Steve Hewlett, although he stepped down from that role when he joined the presenting team of the ''

'' programme on

in 2021. In August 2022, it was announced that Rajan will take over from

as the host of ''

'' from autumn 2023 onwards.

Opinions on the royal family

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote, "Amol Rajan, (...) is a declared

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

who once branded the royal family as 'absurd' and the media as a 'propaganda outlet' for the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

." In 2021, he publicly apologised for comments made in a 2012 article he wrote for ''The Independent'', in which he described

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

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 Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

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". 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. He also narrated the BBC podcast ''Harry, Meghan and the Media'', which was released in January 2022.

Personal life

Rajan is a cricket enthusiast, and plays for the Authors XI. His first book, ''Twirlymen, the Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers'', was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 2011. In September 2013, he married the academic Charlotte Faircloth, in Cambridge. They live in London and have three children.

References

External links

''The Media Show''
(BBC Radio 4) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajan, Amol 1983 births Living people Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Indian emigrants to England English male journalists English newspaper editors BBC television presenters BBC Asian Network presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists I (newspaper) journalists The Independent editors British newspaper journalists Journalists from London People from Tooting Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Former Hindus British atheists English people of Tamil descent Writers from Kolkata University Challenge British republicans