PERSON: Amol Rajan

Broadcaster

Amol Rajan (born 4 July 1983) is an Indian–British journalist, broadcaster and writer working in the United Kingdom. Formerly the media editor of BBC News, he has been a presenter on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 since 2021 and University Challenge on BBC Two since 2023. Before joining the BBC, Rajan was the editor of the newspaper The Independent from 2013 to 2016.

Rajan was born in 1983 in Kolkata, India, to a mother from Pune and a Tamil father from Kumbakonam. Because of Tamil naming customs, Rajan was born V. Amol, with the V. for his father’s given name of Varadarajan. This name was modified to Amol Varadarajan when he came to England and the family later adopted the surname Rajan.

Rajan was three when his family moved to England, and he was raised in Tooting, South West London. The son of Hindu parents, he has said that he has been a “non-believer” in religion since the age of 15 and that he does not believe in God. He was educated at Graveney School in Tooting and graduated with a degree in English from Downing College, Cambridge, where he contributed to Varsity. He was editor of the student newspaper for a term in 2005. At the age of 18, Rajan worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) through his gap year.

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