| Mishal Husain | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 February 1973 Northampton, England |
| Occupation | Newsreader, Journalist, news presenter |
| Spouse(s) | Meekal Hashmi |
| Children | 3 |
| Ethnicity | South Asian |
| Nationality | British |
| Religious belief(s) | Muslim |
| Notable credit(s) | HARDtalk Extra BBC Breakfast |
Mishal Husain (Urdu: مشعل حسین) (sometimes spelt Mishal Hussein) (born 1973 in Northampton, England[1]) is a television news presenter for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World News, presenting Impact between 1400 and 1600 GMT every Monday to Thursday as well as presenting the Sunday evening editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One. 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.
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Mishal Husain is of Pakistani background. Her grandfather, Syed Shahid Hamid, was an army officer serving in the Indian Army prior to the 1947 Partition, as a private Military Secretary of Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck.[2] In the wake of India’s independence, led by Mohandas Gandhi, Husain’s grandfather and family “didn’t feel that he (Gandhi) represented them.”[3] Husain herself has explained the matter in the following way:[4]
| “ | They didn’t feel that he was a leader for them or understood the fears they had about an independent India dominated by the Hindus. In the end they were among the millions who left for the new state of Pakistan. | ” |
S. Shahid Hamid wrote a book called Disastrous Twilight about early days of independent India:[5]
| “ | The situation in East Punjab is shocking. There is a wholesale slaughter of the refugees both on the line of march and in the trains. The refugee camps in Delhi are in a deplorable state and cholera is fast spreading among the occupants. The Muslims are frightened for their lives. | ” |
In the wake of this chaotic situation and violent clashes between different religious groups following India’s independence, the family escaped to Pakistan in 1947, on the personal airplane of Field Marshal Auchinleck, thus escaping the dangerous journey by train that most refugees had to undertake.[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.[6][7]
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.
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.[7]
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.[7]
As of 2011, Husain is hosting BBC programme Impact which airs Monday to Friday on BBC World News, but in spring and summer 2011 was engaged on making a documentary on the Arab spring, for airing in the autumn of 2011. She presents the Sunday evening editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One. [6] On 8 May 2010, she published an autobiographical essay in The Independent based on a nostalgia trip to the UAE.[8] IHusain is also a relief presenter of the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten. She has occasionally presented Newsnight on BBC Two.
On the 2nd of December 2011 it was announced that Husain would be part of the BBCs Olympic Presenting team.[9]
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.[6][10]
In 2009, The Times named Husain as one of the most influential Muslim women in Britain.[11][12]
Husain married Meekal Hashmi in July 2003. Hashmi, a London solicitor, heads the in-house team at Old Mutual Asset Managers, dealing with the legal complexities of investment & hedge funds. Although Husain's and Hashmi's mothers were at college together in Lahore and their families knew each other, it was not an arranged marriage. The couple have three sons,[7][13] 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.
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sarah Montague |
Weekend Presenter of BBC Breakfast 2002 – 2004 |
Succeeded by Susanna Reid |
| Preceded by Fiona Bruce and Peter Sissons |
Main Sunday Presenter of BBC Weekend News 2005 – present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |