Anita Anand ( ; born 1972) is a British radio and television presenter, journalist, and author.

Early life and education

Anand was born on 28 April 1972 in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

, to

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

parents who migrated to India shortly after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

and then, later, to the UK. Her family, prior to the partition, originated from a village near the

Northwest Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...

and Afghanistan. Anand was privately educated at

Bancroft's School Bancroft's School is a co-educational independent day school located in Woodford Green, London Borough of Redbridge. The school currently has around 1,000 pupils aged between 7 and 18, around 200 of whom are pupils of the Preparatory School an ...

Woodford Green Woodford Green is an area of Woodford in north-east London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Buckhurst Hill to the north, Woodford Bridge to the east, South Woodford to the south, and Chingford to the west. Epping F ...

in Redbridge, east London. Anand then entered

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...

, in 1990, graduating with a BA in English in 1993.

Broadcasting career

After training as a journalist, Anand became European Head of News and Current Affairs for

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-ba ...

, and one of the youngest TV news editors in Britain at the age of 25. She presented the talk show ''The Big Debate'' and was political correspondent for Zee TV presenting the ''Raj Britannia'' series – 31 documentaries chronicling the political aspirations of the Asian community in the most marginal constituencies in 1997. Until October 2007, Anand presented in the 10:00 pm till 1:00 am slot on Monday to Thursdays on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

. She went on to co-present the station's weekday ''Drive'' (4:00–7:00 pm) slot with Peter Allen, having replaced Jane Garvey in 2007.

Aasmah Mir Aasmah Saira Mir (; born 7 October 1971) is a Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist who currently copresents the Monday-Thursday breakfast show on Times Radio. Early life Mir was born to first-generation Pakistani immigrants ...

replaced her when she left for maternity leave. Anand has presented the

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's ...

show ''Midweek'', and on television she has been a presenter on the ''

Heaven and Earth Show ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' is a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on BBC One. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues. Over the years it had numerous pres ...

''. She has co-presented the ''

Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas ...

'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

with

Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a Scottish former journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of ''The Spectator'' and presenter of '' The Andrew Neil Show'' on Channel 4. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He f ...

from September 2008, with a break for maternity leave from January to September 2010. In July 2011 Anand left the ''Daily Politics'' to present a new show called ''Double Take'' on Radio 5 Live on Sunday mornings. In June 2012, Anand took over from

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

as the presenter of Radio 4's ''

Any Answers? ''Any Answers?'' is the companion programme to BBC Radio 4's ''Any Questions?'', in which a panel of notable figures drawn from politics, media or the arts are asked for their views on current affairs by members of an invited audience assembled in ...

'' Saturday current affairs phone-in programme between 2:00 and 2:30 pm. In 2022, Anand teamed up with historian William Dalrymple to create the podcast ''Empire'', which examines the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

and British involvement and influence on India. The pair had previously collaborated on the book '' Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond''.

Newspaper journalism

Anand has also written articles for ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...

'' and ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

'' newspaper, and used to write a regular column in ''

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 ...

'' ("Anita Anand's Diary", 2004–2005).

Publications

* Anand, Anita. (2015) ''Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary''.

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

, . It tells the story of the Indian princess

Sophia Duleep Singh Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh (8 August 1876 – 22 August 1948) was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who had been taken from his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj, a ...

, granddaughter of the last Sikh Maharani and Maharaja of Lahore. She was born in exile in England, and went on to struggle for causes including Indian independence, the welfare of Indian soldiers in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. Anand also presented ''Sophia, Suffragette Princess'', a 30-minute television documentary programme based on the book, which aired first on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in late November 2015. * Dalrymple, William; Anand, Anita (2017). '' Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond''.

, . * Anand, Anita (2019). '' The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj''.

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

(UK) Scribner (US), . It is based on the life of Indian revolutionary Udham Singh and the

Amritsar massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independence ...

of 1919.

Awards

On 18 November 2005, Anand won the

Nazia Hassan Nazia Hassan (3 April 1965 – 13 August 2000) was a Pakistani singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist. Referred to as the Queen of South Asian pop, she is considered one of the most influential singers in the subcontinent. Starting in ...

Award for 2005 in the category of Upcoming Television Broadcasters. Her book '' The Patient Assassin'' won the 2020

Hessell-Tiltman Prize The Hessell-Tiltman History Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including World War II, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not pr ...

Personal life

Anand married science writer

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

in 2007. The couple have two sons and live in

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Com ...

. Anand is a patron of the Richmond Society and of the

Museum of Richmond The Museum of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is located in Richmond's Old Town Hall, close to Richmond Bridge. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 October 1988. An independent museum and a register ...

References

External links

Official website

''Any Answers?''
(BBC Radio 4) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anand, Anita 1972 births Living people 21st-century English writers 21st-century British women writers Alumni of King's College London BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 4 presenters BBC Radio 5 Live presenters English journalists British writers of Indian descent English people of Indian descent English people of Punjabi descent People educated at Bancroft's School People from London The Guardian people