Babita Sharma (born April 1977) is a British television newsreader on BBC News (TV channel) and

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and ...

, presenting the Newsday strand each Monday to Wednesday from London with

Rico Hizon Rico Hizon (; born March 24, 1966) is a Filipino broadcast journalist. He is currently a senior anchor and director for news content development at CNN Philippines. During his time with BBC World News, he anchored ''Newsday'' and Asia Business ...

in Singapore.

Early life and education

Sharma is of

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 ...

n descent born in 1977 in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

. She has two older sisters. She lived above a number of corner shops around Reading and Caversham owned by her mother Prem and her father Ved. She attended the

University of Wales , latin_name = , image = , caption = Coat of Arms , motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd , mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth , established = , , type = Confederal, non-member ...

and graduated with a degree in journalism, Film and Broadcasting.

Career

After completing her education, Sharma began working with

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

and Thames Valley Television. She moved to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, working on radio for Channel 4 FM and for Ajman TV where she presented a weekly music programme. She returned to the UK in 2003 and began her BBC career at

BBC Radio Berkshire BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Berkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds studios at Thames Valley Park near Reading. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience ...

as a travel presenter and producer. She then moved to the newsroom in Southampton, reporting and producing for

BBC South Today ''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Berkshire, Surrey and Wiltshire. Since 2000, an opt-out of the main progra ...

. In 2007 she moved on to BBC Spotlight Channel Islands working as a video journalist and regular presenter of the evening bulletin. Sharma transferred to the BBC News Channel in 2008, initially as presenter of the ''Your Money'' programme. In early 2009, she assumed the main business role and then moved to the BBC News Channel, BBC One and BBC World News in her current full-time presenting role. For the BBC World News programme Newsday, which began airing from its new studios on 31 July 2015, Sharma has served as live anchor from the main Broadcasting Centre in London, while Rico Hizon was assigned the main broadcasting role from Singapore. The "World Travel Market global trends report 2013", which was prepared for the World Travel Market and the Euromonitor International was the subject of a panel debate in which Sharma participated. She observed: "The global economy in 2013 has stabilized compared to 2012 with a 3.1% (gross-domestic-product) growth expected for the year. The International Monetary Fund predicts a further 3.8% increase during 2014". She appeared on series 3 episode 7 of "Celebrity Eggheads". Presented series 1 & 2 of Supermarket Secrets with Gregg Wallace. Sharma also hosts various ceremonies, such as the Angel Film Awards at the Monaco International Film Festival from 2011 to 2013 and the 2012 Wings of Hope Achievement Award ceremony. She also moderates panel discussions and speaks at conferences, such as the

World Travel Market In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. In 2017 made the three part series ''Dangerous Borders: A Journey across Indian & Pakistan'' for BBC2. In December 2016 her documentary ''Booze, Beans & Bhajis: The Story of the Corner Shop'' was shown on the

BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. Sharma co-hosted the Asian Curry Awards 2018 at the Grosvenor House in London on Sunday 18 November 2018. In 2018, Sharma won the Asian Achievers Award for Achievement in Media, Arts & Culture

Personal life

Sharma is married to Adam Patterson. They previously lived in the

London Borough of Richmond The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

, and relocated to

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

in February 2022. She gave birth to a daughter in May 2019.

Publications

*''The Corner Shop: Shopkeepers, the Sharmas and the making of modern Britain'' (18 April 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Babita 1977 births Living people People from Caversham, Reading Alumni of the University of Wales British journalists British television presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News English people of Indian descent English expatriates in the United Arab Emirates