Mishal Husain
Mishal Husain | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mishal Husain 1973 |
| Status | Married |
| Occupation(s) | Newsreader, Journalist, news presenter |
| Notable credit | HARDtalk Extra BBC Breakfast |
| Spouse | Meekal Hashmi |
| Children | 3 |
Mishal Husain (sometimes spelt Mishal Hussein) (born 1973 in Northampton, England[1]) is a television news presenter for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World, presenting Impact Asia between 1400 and 1600 GMT every Monday to Thursday as well as appearing on the BBC One weekend news bulletins. She was previously a presenter on the BBC News talk show HARDtalk Extra and on BBC Breakfast. She is also a relief presenter on the BBC News at Six and the BBC News at Ten, and occasionally presents Newsnight.
Early life
Husain's family originates from Pakistan. Her grandfather fled to Pakistan in 1947, when in the wake of India’s independence there were violent clashes between different religious groups.[2] Husain herself was born in the United Kingdom. When she was two, the family moved to the United Arab Emirates, where her father practised as a doctor. Husain attended the British School in Abu Dhabi before returning to the UK at the age of 12 to complete her education at Cobham Hall, an independent school in Cobham, Kent.[1] She studied Law at New Hall, Cambridge and graduated in 1995, followed by a Master's degree in International and Comparative Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, with a thesis on the legal status of Bosnian refugees in Europe.[3][4]
Having studied Russian at school, she spent six months living in Russia and taught English in Moscow as well as taking the opportunity to travel through the country, and states of the former Soviet Union including Uzbekistan and Georgia.
Journalism career
Husain gained her first experience of journalism at the age of 18, spending three months as a city reporter in Islamabad at Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper The News. Then, while at university, she did several stints at the BBC as work experience.[4]
Her first job was at Bloomberg Television in London from 1996, where she was a producer and sometime presenter. Two years later she joined the BBC in 1998 as a producer in the newsroom and for the News 24 channel, and then in the Economics and Business Unit. Within a few months she moved in front of the camera and has since worked in a variety of roles: on the daily Breakfast programme, on Asia Business Report (based in Singapore), and as a presenter of business news on both BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. From September 2002 she was the corporation's Washington correspondent, serving as the main news anchor through the buildup to the invasion of Iraq and during the war. She has interviewed many high-profile figures including Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy US Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.[4]
Husain is currently[when?] hosting BBC programme Impact Asia which airs Monday to Friday on BBC World News.[3] On 8 May 2010, she published an autobiographical essay in The Independent based on a nostalgia trip to the UAE.[5] In February and March 2011, she has presented several editions of the Newsnight programme on BBC2 on Thursday and Fridays.
Other work
When the first series of Star Spell - a spin-off of Hard Spell that had only appeared before as a one-off episode - aired, Husain appeared as word pronouncer, replacing Nina Hossain. She continued in this role throughout the second series of Hard Spell.
Husain appeared in a round of the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind in 2010, coming third out of four. Her specialised subject was the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis. She is also one of the judges for the Amnesty International Media Awards.[3][6]
Recognition
In 2009, The Times named Husain as one of the most influential Muslim women in Britain.[7][8]
Personal life
Husain married Meekal Hashmi, a London solicitor, in July 2003. Although their mothers were at college together in Lahore and their families knew each other, it was not an arranged marriage. The couple have three sons,[4][9] her eldest, Rafael was born in 2004, and she gave birth to twin boys on 19 June 2006. She returned from maternity leave to present the evening news on 17 December 2006.
See also
References
- ^ a b Significant others: Mishal Husain Times Online, 17 October 2009
- ^ Helsingin Sanomat, Jan 4, 2011, p. D5.
- ^ a b c Biographies - Mishal Husain BBC Press Office, April 2009
- ^ a b c d Khairi, Umber (5 January 2004). "Top of the World". Newsline. Pakistan. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ^ A return to the Emirates: Mishal Husain's journey back to the UAE was a family holiday with a difference The Independent, 8 May 2010
- ^ Mishal Husain KBJ Management, Retrieved 25 June 2010
- ^ Baroness Warsi named Britain’s most powerful Muslim woman Times Online, 25 March 2009
- ^ Ambassadors The British Asian Trust
- ^ 'Hello, good morning, and here's my news' Daily Telegraph, 5 February 2006
External links