35 Facts About Anita Rani

Anita Rani's father is a Hindu and her mother is a Sikh.

Anita Rani discovered that her maternal grandfather was born into a Hindu Taggar family, but converted to Sikhism as a young man in accordance with a custom prevalent at the time.

Anita Rani continued to serve in the Indian Army after Indian independence, retiring as a subedar in 1970.

Anita Rani developed an early interest in journalism, hosting her first show at the age of 14 on Sunrise Radio.

Anita Rani went to the University of Leeds, where she studied broadcasting.

In 2002, Anita Rani presented The Edit, a live news and entertainment programme on Channel Five.

Anita Rani presented a number of pop shows on Five, including Spring Break Live, Party in the Park and Pop City Live, as well as being a freelance journalist for 5 News.

Anita Rani presented the first Poetry Slam on the same channel.

Anita Rani was nominated as Best On Screen Personality at the Royal Television Society Midlands awards in 2005.

Anita Rani joined the BBC Asian Network radio station in March 2005, and became presenter of the weekend Hot Breakfast show.

Anita Rani launched Destination Three, a late night entertainment zone on BBC Three.

In May 2006, Anita Rani joined Sky Sports where she became co-presenter with Simon Thomas on the Cricket AM show each Saturday morning.

Anita Rani presented My Generation Next, shown on BBC News 24 between 2 and 9 December 2006.

Anita Rani covered for Anita Anand on the late-evening weekday show on BBC Radio 5 Live in March and September 2007 and has presented World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service and Weekend Breakfast on Five Live.

Anita Rani has covered on various shows for BBC Radio 6 Music.

From 2011 until 2015, Anita Rani presented Four Rooms where unique objects are offered for sale to specialist dealers.

Anita Rani co-presented with Justin Rowlatt the two-part documentary travelogue India on Four Wheels, a road trip around India sampling the changes and problems that growing car usage has brought to the country in the last two decades.

In 2012, Anita Rani took part in BBC's Great Sport Relief Bake Off, winning the competition.

Anita Rani co-presented The World's Busiest Railway 2015, alongside Dan Snow and Robert Llewellyn.

In 2016, Anita Rani co-presented the three-part BBC Two series New York: America's Busiest City alongside Ant Anstead and Ade Adepitan.

Anita Rani presented My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947, a two-part programme on BBC One.

Anita Rani co-presented World's Busiest Cities in 2017 with Dan Snow and Ade Adepitan.

Anita Rani serves as an ambassador for The Scout Association in the UK.

Since 15 January 2021, Anita Rani has presented the Friday and Saturday editions of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

On 24 February 2021, Anita Rani was a guest on BBC Radio 4 interview show Gossip And Goddesses With Granny Kumar, where she said that her Indian name is Neetu, after the Indian actress Neetu Singh.

On 8 March 2021, Anita Rani announced that she had been made a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador.

In May 2021, Anita Rani became the presenter of C4 daytime quiz show The Answer Trap.

In July 2021, Anita Rani published her memoir The Right Sort of Girl, which made The Sunday Times Bestseller List.

In October 2022, Anita Rani presented Channel 4's Aldi's Next Big Thing, alongside Chris Bavin and Julie Ashfield.

In November 2022, Anita Rani was named as the new chancellor of the University of Bradford.

Anita Rani was installed at a ceremony in March 2023 and appeared on the front page of The Times.

Anita Rani was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Leeds in July 2023.

Between October and December 2015, Anita Rani participated in the thirteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Gleb Savchenko and reached the semi-final.

Anita Rani married Bhupinder Rehal, a technology executive for an advertising agency, on 1 November 2009.

In 2020, Anita Rani spoke of a miscarriage that she suffered in 2018.