Amol Rajan facts for kids

Amol Rajan (born 4 July 1983) is a journalist and TV presenter who works in the United Kingdom. He is known for presenting the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and University Challenge on BBC Two. Before joining the BBC, he was the editor of The Independent newspaper.

Early life and education

Amol Rajan was born in 1983 in Kolkata, India. His mother was from Pune, and his father was Tamil from Kumbakonam. Because of Tamil naming customs, his birth name was V. Amol. The "V." stood for his father's name, Varadarajan. When his family moved to England, his name became Amol Varadarajan, and later they used the family name Rajan.

Rajan was three years old when his family moved to England. He grew up in Tooting, South West London. He was educated at Graveney School in Tooting. He then studied English at Downing College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he wrote for the student newspaper Varsity and was its editor for a term in 2005. When he was 18, Rajan worked for a year at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which is a government department that deals with other countries.

Career

Amol Rajan started his career in television as a secondary presenter on The Wright Stuff. This was a daytime talk show on the Five network during its 2006–2007 series. He also worked as a researcher for the programme.

He joined The Independent newspaper in August 2007. Over the next few years, he worked as a news reporter, sports writer, and columnist. He also became the comment editor and editor of Independent Voices. Rajan also wrote a column for the London Evening Standard and reviewed restaurants for The Independent on Sunday. He also contributed to The Salisbury Review.

In 2013, when he was 29, Rajan became the first non-white editor of a national newspaper in over a century. This happened when he was appointed editor of The Independent. Before this, he had been a media advisor to the newspaper's owner, Evgeny Lebedev. In February 2016, The Independent announced it would stop printing and become a digital-only newspaper. Rajan stayed with the company to help with this big change.

Rajan's role as editor-at-large for The Independent website ended in November 2016. He was then appointed the BBC's first Media Editor, starting his new job on 12 December. He also hosted The Big Debate on the BBC Asian Network.

Since 2017, Rajan has filled in for various presenters on BBC Radio 2. These include Simon Mayo, Jeremy Vine, and Zoe Ball. He has also occasionally presented The One Show. From May 2017, he presented The Media Show on BBC Radio 4. He left this role when he joined the presenting team of the Today programme in 2021.

In 2023, Rajan became the new host of University Challenge. He took over from Jeremy Paxman for the 53rd series. Rajan himself had appeared on Christmas University Challenge in December 2020. He represented Downing College in that special celebrity version of the show.

In June 2023, Rajan conducted an interview for the BBC with former TV presenter Phillip Schofield. This was Schofield's first TV interview since he resigned from ITV in May 2023.

In May 2024, he appeared as himself in the Doctor Who episodes "73 Yards" and "Empire of Death". In these episodes, he interviewed a character named Roger ap Gwilliam. In August 2024, he also appeared as himself in an episode of the TV series Industry.

Views on the royal family

Amol Rajan has shared his personal views on the British royal family. In 2021, he publicly apologized for comments he made in a 2012 article for The Independent. In that article, he had described Prince Philip and Prince Charles in ways that he later regretted. He also apologized for an open letter he sent to Prince William and Catherine when they were expecting their first child.

In November 2021, the BBC broadcast The Princes and the Press. This was a two-part documentary presented by Rajan. It looked at how the royal family and the media interact. He also narrated a BBC podcast called Harry, Meghan and the Media, which was released in January 2022.

Personal life

Amol Rajan enjoys cricket and plays for the Authors XI. His first book, Twirlymen, the Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers, was published in 2011. In September 2013, he married Charlotte Faircloth, who is an academic. They live in London and have four children.