Rajan Datar is an award-winning BBC-trained broadcaster, moderator, features writer for national newspapers (and musician) with a career spanning two decades of current affairs, arts, business and documentary reporting/presenting for the BBC. He is one of the corporation’s best-known faces globally and frequently travels around the world on speaking engagements.
Rajan has presented more than 30 acclaimed half hour BBC travelogues around the world (viewed by average audiences of 70 million). These include in the last year a programme on Mauritius beyond the postcard image, a two-parter on India recently repeated and a two part series on the Balkans. In his role as presenter/writer of the BBC’s “Travel Show “ Specials series he has filmed in as far flung destinations as Cuba, Mongolia and Myanmar and completed big treks, coast to coast, in southern USA and in China to discover its “natural wonders”. All told he has been on some 90 filming trips around the world for the BBC!
Rajan also presents the weekly flagship discussion show “The Forum” on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. Topics covered have included 1001 Arabian Nights, History of Flamenco and The Sugar Trade.
He covered the Enron crisis as presenter for a BBC 2 Money Programme special and award-winning specials on Tesco, Google and Ebay and has reported for BBC One’s Watchdog . For two years Rajan was also a reporter on BBC2’s flagship daily current affairs programme, Newsnight. He was initially recruited by BBC TV for its highly prestigious Production Trainee against formidable competition, before within a year being offered a presenter’s on one its flagship early evening programmes.
He has been a conference facilitator/speaker for United Nations, IATA , Conde Nast, World Travel Market and World Travel and Tourism Council, BOND annual conference (the UK membership body for NGO’s in international development) and many literary festivals including several sessions at the world renowned Hay International Literary Festival for the last two years.
In a long and distinguished career which includes lecturing at Goldsmiths College, London University and Sussex University, performing in a band on stages all around the world for more than 30 years, as well as a full time role as a broadcaster, Rajan Datar loves communicating with live audiences and regards his specialities as Travel, Culture (especially music, literature and cinema), Current Affairs and Academia (MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford Univ and Msc at London School of Economics) and Business. Most of all he pride himself as a rigorous, gregarious journalist with the ability to prepare and master most topics no matter how obscure which comes in handy for his role as an expert conference host and facilitator.
