Sarfraz Manzoor ( ur, سرفراز منظور; born 9 June 1971) is a British journalist, documentary maker, broadcaster, and screenwriter of Pakistani origin. He is a regular contributor to ''
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 ...
'', presenter of documentaries 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' ...
, and a cultural commentator who appears on programmes such as ''
Newsnight Review
''The Review Show'' was a British discussion programme dedicated to the arts which ran, under several titles, from 1994 to 2014. The programme featured a panel of guests who reviewed developments in the world of the arts and culture.
History
' ...
'' and '' Saturday Review''. His first book, ''Greetings from Bury Park'' was published in 2007.
Early life and education
Manzoor was born in
Lyallpur
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...
(now
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...
), the second largest city in Punjab Province and the third largest in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. He emigrated to Britain in May 1974 with his mother, older brother and sister to join their father, Mohammed Manzoor, who had left Pakistan in 1963 to find work.Muneeza Shamsi "Of Fathers and Sons" ''Newsline'', 1 December 2007 Manzoor attended Maidenhall Infants and Primary Schools in the
Bury Park
Bury Park is an area of Luton, in the Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is located 1 mile north west of the town centre on the road to Dunstable. The area is roughly bounded by Claremont Road and Highfield Ro ...
district of
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...
. In the autumn of 1979, Manzoor's family moved to the
Marsh Farm
Marsh Farm is a suburb of Luton, in the Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, near to Leagrave and Limbury, mainly of council and social housing. The area is bounded by the edge of Luton to the north, Bramingham Roa ...
Luton Sixth Form College
Luton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college in the Barnfield area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England.
History
In 1904 Luton Council acquired the Modern School, which was a mixed-sex secondary school. This school moved into new buildings in ...
, Manzoor left Luton to study Economics and Politics at
Manchester University
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
. Three days before Manzoor turned 24 in 1995, his father died.
Career
Manzoor worked for six years at ITN, during which he was a producer and reporter on ''
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
Don McCullin
Sir Donald McCullin (born 9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and hi ...
and Charlie Watts. He left ''Channel 4 News'' and joined
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
as a deputy
commissioning editor
In book publishing, a commissioning editor is essentially a buyer. It is the job of the commissioning editor to advise the publishing house on which books to publish. Usually the actual decision of whether to contract a book is taken by a senior ma ...
before signing a contract with Bloomsbury Publishing for his first book.
Manzoor scripted ''The Great British Asian Invasion'' for Channel 4 and wrote and directed ''Death of a Porn Star'' for the same network which told the tragic story of the life and death of Lolo Ferrari. He presented a documentary for Channel 4 on the 2006 Guardian Hay Book Festival ''On the Way to Hay'' in which he interviewed
Monica Ali
Monica Ali FRSL (born 20 October 1967) is a British writer of Bangladeshi and English heritage. In 2003, she was selected as one of the "Best of Young British Novelists" by ''Granta'' magazine based on her unpublished manuscript; her debut nove ...
and
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
.
In March 2005, Manzoor wrote and presented ''Luton Actually'', a documentary for BBC 2. The programme, a personal and affectionate portrait of his hometown, featured Manzoor tracing his family's journey from Pakistan to Luton.
In 2007, he published ''Greetings from Bury Park'', a memoir that detailed his life growing up in Luton and the twin impacts upon his life of the death of his father in 1995 and the music and especially the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen. Manzoor had admired the United States, wishing to live there, but after the experience of witnessing the
9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
in 2001 he came to view Britain as being his true home.
Manzoor has written and presented documentaries for
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' ...
. These include ''From Luton Streets to Jersey Shores'' where he travelled to
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
to examine the connections between Springsteen's New Jersey and Manzoor's hometown of Luton; ''Don't Call Me Asian'' which examined the rise in British Indians and Pakistanis defining themselves by their religion and nationality rather than simply as
British Asians
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...
; ''A Class Apart'' which explored the consequences of faith schools on social cohesion; ''Taking the Cricket Test'' which saw Manzoor follow the Pakistan cricket team across England during the 2006 test series; a documentary profile of Little Richard, who was interviewed; a programme on matrimonial websites in August 2009; a three part series ''Whatever Happened to the Working Class?'' in February 2009 and a programme which told the story of the George Harrison album ''
Wonderwall Music
''Wonderwall Music'' is the debut solo album by English musician George Harrison and the soundtrack to the 1968 film '' Wonderwall'', directed by Joe Massot. Released in November 1968, it was the first solo album by a member of the Beatles, and ...
'' in March 2009.
Manzoor contributed an article ''White Girls'' to the literary quarterly ''
Granta
''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
'', issue 112.
Manzoor has written for '' Daily Mail'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
'', ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', ''
Uncut
Uncut may refer to:
* ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship
* ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997
* '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
''.
In 2010, Manzoor married Bridget, a speech and language therapist, a union initially disapproved of by his mother and siblings because she was a non-Muslim white woman. The couple have two children.
Film
A film inspired by his life, ''
Blinded by the Light
"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, a which first appeared on his 1973 debut album ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'' A cover by British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band reached number one on the ...
'', was released in August 2019. Manzoor co-wrote the script, with
Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in the UK and ho ...