Asad Ahmad (born 28 November 1969) is a British journalist and

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

Early life and education

Ahmad was born on 28 November 1969 to Pakistani parents in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was educated at

The John Roan School The John Roan School is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located in Greenwich, south-east London, England. History Grammar schools The current school was originally two grammar schools. The boys' school was founde ...

Maze Hill Maze Hill is an area in Greenwich and Blackheath, in south-east London, lying to the east of Greenwich Park, and west of the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath. It is part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and takes its name from the main thorou ...

in Blackheath, southeast London, followed by the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, where he studied law. Before his media career, Ahmad worked as a Foreign Exchange dealer in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, and as a researcher in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

BBC News

Ahmad began his media career at the BBC on the News Trainee Scheme in 1996 before working at

BBC Birmingham BBC Birmingham is one of the oldest regional arms of the BBC, located in Birmingham. It was the first region outside London to start broadcasting both the corporation's radio (in 1922) and television (in 1949) transmissions, the latter from t ...

as a Political Reporter and TV Presenter on ''

BBC Midlands Today ''BBC Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasti ...

''. Before joining

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London, Surrey and parts of the surrounding areas of the Home Counties. Its output includes the daily '' BBC London'' news bulletin and w ...

, Ahmad presented editions of

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's flagship news programme ''

Reporting Scotland ''BBC Reporting Scotland'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Scotland, broadcast on BBC One Scotland from the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Pacific Quay, Glasgow. The programme usually followed after the nationwide bulletin ...

'' as well as news bulletins on ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

''. He was one of the launch presenters and correspondents for ''

Newsnight Scotland ''Newsnight Scotland'' is a current affairs television programme, broadcast by BBC Scotland from BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow as an opt out of the main London-based ''Newsnight'' programme. It was broadcast at 11pm from Mondays to Thursdays, re ...

''. He became the BBC's Scotland Correspondent, during which time he covered the Foot and Mouth outbreak, and riots in the North of England. Ahmad moved to London to work as a reporter for BBC Breakfast before joining the presenting team with

Moira Stuart Moira Clare Ruby Stuart (born 2 September 1949) is an English TV presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.Jeremy Bowen Jeremy Francis John Bowen (born 6 February 1960) is a Welsh journalist and television presenter. Bowen was the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1995 and 2000 and the BBC Middle East editor from 2005 to 2022, before b ...

Sophie Raworth Sophie Jane Raworth (; born 15 May 1968) is an English journalist, newsreader and broadcaster working for the BBC. She is a senior newsreader and is one of the main presenters of BBC News (mainly ''BBC News at Six'' and '' BBC News at Ten''). S ...

Sarah Montague Sarah Anne Louise Montague, Lady Brooke (born 8 February 1966),''Who's who'' is a British journalist and presenter of the BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme ''The World at One''. For 18 years, prior to April 2018, she was a regular presenter ...

and

Darren Jordon Darren Jordon (born 23 November 1960 in London, England) is a British journalist working for the Al-Jazeera 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, Al Jazeera English. He is also a former officer of the Jamaica Defence Forc ...

. He also presented the News round-up on ''

Breakfast with Frost ''Breakfast with Frost'' is a Sunday morning BBC current affairs programme hosted by Sir David Frost. It covered the main political news of the day, with Frost interviewing key figures in the world of politics, and celebrity guests reviewing th ...

'' and rolling news on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

with

Sian Williams Sian Mary Williams (; born 28 November 1964) is a Welsh journalist, current affairs presenter, and counselling psychologist. From 2001 until 2012, Williams regularly presented weekday editions of ''BBC Breakfast'' as well as all main news b ...

Other activities

Ahmad is an ambassador for the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

's Mosaic charity. He is also an ambassador for the

's British Asian Trust. Ahmad has become involved in a working party looking at homelessness in the capital. He has appeared on radio presenting on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

. He has also previously presented the ''Newsdrive'' programme on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

, and he has been shortlisted several times for awards for his special reports on BBC Radio. Other programmes Ahmad has presented include a late night discussion programme for

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...

, ''Newsline Scotland'', ''East'' for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

, music and current affairs programmes including a Pakistan earthquake special programme for

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. Ahmad was invited by the US State Department to take part in their International Visitor Leadership Programme in 2006, where he delivered lectures. He is also a patron of the charity Working With Words.

Honours

Ahmad was the 2006

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Reporter of the Year for London. He has been nominated for a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for News Programme of the Year and was shortlisted for an ''Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards'' ( EMMA) for Best Radio News Journalist.

Personal life

In 2007, Ahmad faced an allegation of harassment which he strongly denied stating that the allegation was "false". He refused offers of a caution by the Metropolitan Police opting to take the case to court. The

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

offered no evidence and forensic evidence cleared Ahmad of any wrongdoing. He was told he could leave the court "without a stain on his character". The CPS was ordered to pay Ahmad's legal costs. Ahmad was due to run the 2008

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

in aid of

WaterAid WaterAid is an international non-governmental organization, focused on water, sanitation and hygiene. It was set up in 1981 as a response to the UN International Drinking Water decade (1981–1990). As of 2025, it was operating in 30 countries. ...

, but had to pull out due to sustaining a

knee injury In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

. Ahmad suffered a motorcycle accident in 2008, sustaining a serious head and brain injury. He was almost paralysed and must now use a walking stick to help his overall balance.BBC profile
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References

{{reflist

External links

Asad Ahmad profile
BBC London, 5 September 2008 BBC newsreaders and journalists Ahmad, Asad People educated at the John Roan School Alumni of the University of Bristol 1969 births Date of birth missing (living people)