Face behind the voice
Rajan Datar BBC World Service
Current job Presenter of The Forum (Thursdays, 10.05am) and Over to You (Saturdays, 9.50am) on BBC World Service. “The Forum is one of the station’s crown jewels. It’s a very accessible version of In Our Time (Radio 4), touching on any subject from the first heart surgery to highlife music in Ghana. I love doing it. Over to You is on 52 weeks a year and I’ve pretty much done every single one.”
CV Born in south-west London, he read philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University then did a master’s in political sociology at the London School of Economics. He made his TV debut in 1991, reporting on the launch of The Big Issue. He co-presented (with Magenta Devine) the Rough Guide… series for BBC2, then in 1994 The People’s Parliament for Channel 4 and The Net for BBC2 — the first major series about the internet. “Frankly, asking me to do that was a bit weird because I’m not very technical.” He was a reporter for BBC2’s Newsnight 1996—97, then for The Money Programme from 1998 to 2006: “It was coming out of its city-based phase, with crusty old men talking about stock prices. The programme I enjoyed making most was about Enron, the American company that collapsed. That epitomises what I love doing most — making complicated subjects accessible.” From 2007 to 2013 he presented travel show Fast Track for BBC World News, then from 2013 The Travel Show.
Social media — yes or no? “Yes, but sparingly. I don’t use it as a platform to mouth off. I’m not addicted to social media and that’s a healthy place to be.”
Best moments “It’s a toss-up between having to fight a Mongolian wrestler in the Gobi desert for The Travel Show, and interviewing a band at a jazz festival in New Orleans. Halfway through their set, they asked me up on stage — and I was playing the washboard in front of thousands of people.”
Worst moments “I was doing a radio programme with all of the script on a computer screen. It was minutes before broadcast on a very hot day. So I decided to put the fan on, took a plug out — and unplugged the computer with the script on it. We basically blagged the programme for a whole hour and got away with it, but I’m not sure the producer’s ever recovered.”
Off air Lives in west London with his wife, TV producer Emma Jones, their two daughters and dog Dizzy.
First radio memory “When I was a kid, my parents would take me to Maharashtra in India to meet relatives I hardly knew. I was very homesick and there I discovered the BBC World Service.”
Favourite broadcasters “Mishal Husain is the most composed, thorough, forensic broadcaster I’ve heard. Craig Charles, who is on 6 Music, is also fantastic. And I admire Jim Al-Khalili because he is a brilliant communicator who can explain complicated things in a really user-friendly way.”
Ambition/Dream job “I want to do the ten-part, landmark series about the meaning of life or consciousness or neuroscience. That would be, for me, the epitome of broadcasting.”
Secret skills “About 35 years ago I started an eight-piece ska and reggae band called Maroon Town. That is my second family and a wonderful alternative to broadcasting, using a different part of your brain.”
bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio
‘I love making complicated subjects accessible ’