Ali Abbasi

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Ali Abbasi (c.1963–July 30, 2004) was a Pakistani-born Scottish television presenter. He moved from Pakistan to Glasgow with his parents as a child and joined BBC Scotland as a travel presenter in the 1980s. He went on to publish numerous books and became a champion for the Gaelic language, appearing in the Gaelic children's series De a-nis? and the comedy series Air ais air an Ran Dan ("Back on the Ran Dan")

Abbasi was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and moved to the UK with his family in 1963. He joined BBC Scotland as a travel presenter in 1994 from Glasgow City Council, where he worked as an art gallery assistant. As well as presenting travel news at the BBC, Abbasi worked as an audio technician with outside broadcasts and radio cars.

Abbasi became Gaelic reading champion in 2003. This showed his love for the country and also his love for an almost dead language. He was the first celebrity to proclaim he was learning it and his death was a real shock to the Gaelic community and learners everywhere.

Abbasi died of Lupus. Studies have shown that the disease is most prevalent in people of Afro-Caribbean origin, and that people of Indian or Pakistani background are less likely to be hit than Afro-Caribbeans but are more at risk than whites. The disease is also more common among women than men, with nine out of 10 sufferers being female.