Amol Rajan quits BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after five years

Presenter Amol Rajan is leaving BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after five years.

“The pips have sounded, and it’s time to get my coat,” the broadcaster said, calling the show’s team “consistently world class”.

Rajan, 42, revealed that he is planning to unleash his “inner entrepreneur” and launch his own company. He will also continue to host both University Challenge and his Radical with Amol Rajan podcast for the BBC.

Rajan will leave BBC News this summer, and will also step back from his Amol Rajan Interviews show. His replacement on Today is expected to be announced in due course.

“Leaving Today might be mad,” Rajan said in a statement, adding: “This team is the best of the best, consistently world class, and exceptionally well led by Owenna Griffiths and Mohit Bakaya. I will always feel like I played in the editorial version of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, or Steve Waugh’s Australia.

“I genuinely couldn’t be prouder of Amol Rajan Interviews, which will stand the test of time. Travelling all around the world (or indeed Essex) to spend so much time with so many icons has been an unforgettable privilege.”

On his next steps, Rajan said he had first “flirted with the idea” of building his own company 20 years ago, adding that he is excited to stay on as the host of University Challenge and his podcast.

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“I am very much not leaving the BBC, Britain’s noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux. It’s that world I’m heading for, and I’m excited,” he said.

Since joining the BBC as its first media editor in 2016, after a stint as the youngest ever editor of The Independent, Rajan has gone on to become one of the broadcaster’s most prominent personalities.

He became the fifth regular presenter of Radio 4’s flagship Today programme in 2021 alongside Justin Webb, Mishal Husain, Martha Kearney and Nick Robinson.

At the time of his appointment, Rajan said he hoped to do the listeners proud, stating: “I’ve no intention of trying to reinvent news, and think the best thing is to keep it simple. Be fair, get to the truth, and don’t screw up.”

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In 2023, Rajan was announced as the new host of University Challenge, becoming the third personin the quiz show’s 60-year history to hold the coveted post. He succeeded Jeremy Paxman, who ended his reign after 28 years.

Rajan, who stepped down as media editor at BBC News in 2022, has also presented on BBC Radio 2 and The One Show.

As a familiar voice and face of the BBC, Rajan regularly opened up about his own experiences, including the “hellish” IVF journey that he and his wife Charlotte Faircloth embarked on, and the death of his father in 2022. On social media, he is also known to post funny videos sharing insight into his life.

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His presenting style was met with mixed reactions from listeners, some of whom described it as “me-centric” journalism. Others enjoyed his relatable and empathetic manner.

In November last year, Rajan found himself in hot water after using the word “scroungers” in reference to benefits claimants in an interview with David Blunkett on the Today programme. “To be clear, I absolutely wasn’t describing people on welfare as scroungers myself,” he explained in a brief apology.

Born in Kolkata, India, in 1983, Rajan moved to London with his family when he was three years old. He attended a local state school before heading to Downing College, Cambridge, to study English.

He joined The Independent in 2007 as a news reporter before landing the top job of editor in 2013 at the age of 29, becoming the first non-white editor of a British national newspaper in over a century. He decamped to the BBC three years later, in 2016.