37 Facts About Mishal Husain

Mishal Husain was born on 12 March 1973 and is a British journalist, broadcaster and author.

Mishal Husain is best known for having presented a range of BBC News programmes, most notably BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mishal Husain has occasionally appeared as a relief presenter on the weekday edition of the BBC News at Ten, and more rarely, the BBC News at Six.

Mishal Husain has hosted The Andrew Marr Show, HARDtalk, Impact and BBC Breakfast.

Mishal Husain was born on 12 March 1973 in Northampton, England, to Pakistani parents.

Mishal Husain's mother was a teacher and former producer for Pakistan Television Corporation, and her father was a urologist.

Mishal Husain is the granddaughter of Syed Shahid Hamid, the first Director-General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

Mishal Husain returned to England at the age of 12 to continue her education at Cobham Hall School, an independent school in Cobham, Kent.

Mishal Husain read law at the women-only New Hall, Cambridge followed by a master's degree in International and Comparative Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Mishal Husain gained her first experience in journalism at the age of 18, spending three months as a city reporter in Islamabad, Pakistan, at the English-language newspaper The News.

Mishal Husain's first job was at Bloomberg Television in London in 1996, where she was a producer and sometime presenter.

Mishal Husain has interviewed many high-profile figures including Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Richard Perle, Paul Kagame and Emmerson Mnangagwa.

In 2011, Mishal Husain hosted Impact on BBC World News, but in the spring and summer of 2011 she was engaged in making a documentary on the Arab Spring, for airing in the autumn of 2011.

Mishal Husain has presented the Sunday evening editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One.

On 16 July 2013, the BBC's Director-General Lord Hall announced that Mishal Husain was to become a presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme in the autumn.

Mishal Husain presented her first edition of Today on 7 October 2013, when her co-presenter was John Humphrys.

On 7 November 2013, it was announced that Mishal Husain would be part of the BBC's Commonwealth Games Presenting team.

Mishal Husain was an occasional relief presenter of the BBC News at Six and the weekday edition of the BBC News at Ten, as well as on the BBC News Channel during major breaking news stories.

Mishal Husain won the Broadcaster of the Year Award at the London Press Club Awards in 2015.

On 27 November 2017, Mishal Husain recorded an interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

In June 2024, during the lead up to the 2024 UK general election, Mishal Husain was selected to chair and referee two televised debates on the BBC.

Mishal Husain commented that she "saw the role as a privilege".

In September 2024, Mishal Husain was criticised by some Jewish organisations who claimed the journalist failed to sufficiently challenge comments that they considered to be antisemitic during an interview on the BBC Today programme with the Iranian-American academic and political analyst Mohammad Marandi.

In November 2024, it was announced that Mishal Husain would be leaving the BBC to join Bloomberg News, where she will be the editor-at-large of Bloomberg Weekend, and presenting an interview series.

Mishal Husain continued in this role throughout the second series of Hard Spell.

Mishal Husain appeared in a round of the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind in 2010, coming third out of four.

Mishal Husain is one of the judges for the Amnesty International Media Awards.

Mishal Husain featured on a show entitled Gandhi that was broadcast by the BBC in March 2012.

Mishal Husain featured as the morning anchor presenter on BBC One during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Mishal Husain is an ambassador for the charity Mosaic, which helps young people from deprived communities to realise their talents and potential.

In January 2014, Mishal Husain was awarded the Services to Media award at the British Muslim Awards.

Mishal Husain has written a book, The Skills, a guide for women on how to achieve their career goals.

In 2024, Mishal Husain published a memoir, Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence.

In January 2025, Mishal Husain was elected as a Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

In July 2003, Mishal Husain married Meekal Hashmi, a chief operating officer at an investment management firm.

Amid widespread condemnation of the killing of ISIL hostages in 2014, Mishal Husain voiced support for the use of social media to denounce its extremism.

Mishal Husain, who was the first Muslim presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said:.