Rajan Datar

Rajan Datar is a British award-winning journalist and television presenter, currently working with BBC. He is the host of The Travel Show, Country Direct, and a regular contributor to various BBC shows.

Education

Rajan Datar attended Hampton School (formerly Hampton Grammar School) in Hampton, England. Later, he attended the University of Oxford and graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. For postgraduate, he attended the London School of Economics, graduating with a Master of Science degree in Political sociology, in 1985.

Career

In the early days of his journalism career, Datar worked with BBC TV and radio, presenting on BBC's original independent traveler series Rough Guide to the World, Newsnight, Channel 4's People's Parliament, and BBC Two's business documentary series The Money Programme. The Money Programme ran from April 1966 to November 2010 –– the last presenters were Libby Potter and Max Flint.

In 1990, he became a broadcaster/journalist for BBC Television and Radio. In the role that he continues to play, he has presented The Forum, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's award-winning program From Our Own Correspondent. He is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's radio program Saturday Review (hosted by Tom Sutcliffe.) 

Currently, he is the presenter and writer for BBC World Service's weekly radio show and podcast Over To You, and Country Direct, a half-hour special travelogue documentaries on BBC News.

In 2005, he became a broadcaster/producer/writer for BBC TV and radio, presenting, scripting and directing for their national and international news. He has also presented the BBC World Serves's arts and film shows The Strand and On Screen –– the two shows are now off-the-air.

In 2012, he was named the Broadcast Travel Journalist of the Year 2012 in the Business Travel Awards ceremony in London. From January 2013 to February 2014, he hosted BBC World News's Fast Track. He co-hosted the show with Fiona Foster, Simon Calder, and Akhtar Khan. Fast Track show ended in February 2014 and was succeeded by The Travel Show, where Datar continues to present alongside Simon Calder, Henry Golding, Ade Adepitan, Carmen Roberts, Christa Larwood, and Michelle Jana-Chan.

Speaking about his love traveling and hosting traveling shows, Datar tells BBC:

Travelling abroad to report for the BBC has been the fulfillment of my wildest dreams and I make sure I always try and justify the privilege with enthusiasm and insight. ... As a journalist I’m basically a 'people' person – and it always delights me how much I can delve into the lives of others half a world away and yet be able to share and communicate so much. ... Empathy for me is not reducing different cultures to a lowest common denominator but embracing the 'otherness'. I may have experienced travel for the last 20 years in different guises – as a broadcaster, as a touring musician and as a public speaker – but I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface yet!

In addition, Datar has been a feature writer for a variety of well-known publications including The Guardian, The Times, and The Observer, and has hosted many conferences, nationally and internationally, for many global organizations including the United Nations.

He has also lectured and taught at the University of London and Leeds Universities.

Personal life

Datar is a trained musician and plays bass guitar for Maroon Town, a ska/dub/breakbeat/jazz/funk fusion band that he co-founded in the 1980s. The band, so far, has released five albums and  20 years has toured 30 countries. He is also the bassist and one half of the pop duo Columbo.