Shereen Nanjiani (born 4 October 1961) is a Scottish radio presenter with

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

. Before launching her radio career in 2006, Nanjiani was the chief news anchor at

STV Central Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

, having presented the news programme, '' Scotland Today'' since 1987. She is the first Asian-Scots presenter in Scotland and the longest serving female news presenter at STV.

Early life

Nanjiani was born in Elderslie,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 4 October 1961 to Pakistani parents from

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

. She is a second cousin of the

Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabis, Punjabi or Muhajir people, Muhaj ...

comedian Kumail Nanjiani. Nanjiani worked on Hospital Radio Paisley for a short time in the late 1970s where she used to read some local news cuttings she had gathered during the week.

Career

STV

Nanjiani earned a job as a trainee journalist in 1983 with STV. She was called in to present her first bulletin in 1987, when

Sheena McDonald Sheena Elizabeth McDonald (born 25 July 1954, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Early life She was the daughter of Very Rev William J. G. McDonald, minister of Mayfield church in Edinburgh, and Moderato ...

was ill. Nanjiani has hosted many programmes for STV, including religious affairs series ''Eikon'' and ''Secret Scotland'' in the late nineties. Nanjiani also hosted several editions of the '' Scottish Politician of the Year Awards'' on STV. On 16 February 2006, it was announced that Nanjiani, along with colleagues Jane Lewis and Sarah Heaney had accepted

voluntary redundancy Voluntary redundancy (VR) is a financial incentive offered by an organisation to encourage employees to voluntarily resign, typically in downsizing or restructuring situations. The purpose is to avoid compulsory redundancies or layoffs. Reasons ...

from STV. Nanjiani left ''Scotland Today'' and STV on 5 May 2006. In interviews with the Scottish press, Nanjiani said that she was looking forward to other exciting projects away from live television. On 28 August 2007, Shereen made her first

appearance since her departure on the station's video blog, The Real MacKay.

BBC

On 20 June 2006, it was announced that Nanjiani was 'switching sides' to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and she made her debut as a radio presenter on Friday 11 August as part of a set of changes to the presenting line-up of

's news and current affairs programmes. Nanjiani started her radio career at BBC Scotland at the helm of lunchtime programme, ''Scotland Live'', which she presented every Friday. She now presents ''Shereen'', a live topical news and current affairs programme broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland originally every Sunday morning. She appeared as herself in an episode of BBC police spoof comedy Scot Squad. Nanjiani was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to broadcasting in Scotland.

Pop Culture

Nanjiani's name is a widely accepted Scottish Rhyming Slang for the vagina.

References

External links

''Shereen''
(BBC Radio Scotland)
Shereen Nanjiani
at David John Associates {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanjiani, Shereen 1961 births Scottish people of Pakistani descent Alumni of the University of Glasgow BBC Radio Scotland presenters Living people Scottish journalists Scottish women journalists Scottish people of English descent Scottish radio presenters Scottish women radio presenters Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters STV News newsreaders and journalists Scottish people of Sindhi descent Members of the Order of the British Empire