Aasmah Mir

Aasmah Mir
عاصمہ سائرہ میر
Born	Aasmah Saira Mir (1971-10-07) 7 October 1971 (age 53) Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Broadcaster, journalist
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Piara Powar (2007⁠–⁠2021)[1]
Children	1

Aasmah Saira Mir (/ˈæzmə ˈmɪər/ Urdu: عاصمہ سائرہ میر; born 7 October 1971) is a Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist who co-presents the Monday-Thursday breakfast programme on Times Radio.

Early life

Mir was born in Glasgow to first-generation Pakistani immigrants on 7 October 1971[2][3] and brought up in the affluent suburb of Bearsden from the age of ten, where she attended Bearsden Academy.[4][5][6] She graduated from the University of Bristol with an honours law degree in 1993.[7]

Journalism

In 1995 Mir had a brief stint as a reporter for the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, then became a radio researcher. In 2005 and 2006 she was a columnist for the Sunday Herald.[7]

Broadcasting career

Television

Mir, whose sister Uzma was already working for BBC Scotland, first appeared in an episode of a 1992 BBC Scotland show called The Insiders presented by Gordon Kennedy.[2] After graduation she joined Scottish Television aged 21 as a trainee and read the early morning news bulletins[2] and later presented the main news show.[2]

She presented a couple of editions of an Asian documentary strand for BBC Two called East[7] in 1996 and some items on Desi DNA.[7] In 1998 she became a reporter for Central Television in Nottingham.

Mir also presented episodes Just Write on Channel 4 and Around Scotland on BBC Two.[7] In 2010 she was a newspaper reviewer on GMTV with Lorraine and Lorraine.[4]

Radio

In 1999 Mir moved to London as a producer for BBC Radio London and started doing freelance news-reading shifts for the national radio station BBC Radio 5 Live. She joined the station full-time in July 2001.

In April 2006 she covered the weekday morning phone-in programme on BBC Asian Network for a fortnight between Sonia Deol leaving and Anita Rani becoming presenter. She has presented items on the BBC Asian Network Report.[7]

Mir presented the Midday News on 5 Live, Monday to Friday, until 9 January 2009. In 2009 she presented some Friday editions of Good Morning Scotland.[2] Also in 2009 she presented a series of programmes for BBC Radio 4 on Scotland's Year of Homecoming,[2][8] as well as Colour Me White for Radio 4, and Gay Life After Saddam for Radio 5 Live. In 2010 she replaced Anita Anand as a presenter of Radio 5 Live's Drive programme. For one week in March 2012 she sat in for Jeremy Vine on his BBC Radio 2 programme.

On 27 September 2012 Mir announced on Twitter she was leaving BBC 5 Live after 11 years with the station. Mir presented her last 5 Live Drive on 9 November 2012. On 29 October 2012 Mir presented an edition of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and for a while replaced Julia Hartley-Brewer on the LBC 97.3 afternoon programme.

From 2012 to 2020 she was a copresenter of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live.[9]

In April 2020 she was announced as a presenter for Times Radio when the station launched on 29 June 2020. She copresents Monday to Thursday breakfast with Stig Abell.[10] In November 2024 she announced she was to leave Times Radio Breakfast in two months and presented her last show on 30th January 2025.

Bibliography

In 2023, she released her memoir A Pebble in the Throat.[11]

Personal life

Mir is a fan of Celtic F.C.[12]

She was married to Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe.[12][13] She gave birth to a daughter at the age of 43. In 2021 Mir divorced Powar, stating that "this was my decision so I cannot wallow for too long".[1][14]

References

1. Mir, Aasmah (8 April 2021). "I want a fairytale ending that allows me to sing". The Times.
2. Aasmah Mir: Scotland’s not my home any more Times Online, 22 November 2009
3. "5 Writers on Starting New Festive Traditions This Christmas". British Vogue. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
4. Barry, Maggie (31 October 2010). "Scots drivetime BBC radio host on fighting talk fuelling on-air duels". Sunday Mail. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
5. Williams, Tessa (7 January 2013). "At home with... Aasmah Mir". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019.
6. "School pain for Aasmah". Evening Times. 24 July 2017.
7. Aasmah Mir Biography Archived 30 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine BBC Press Office, May 2010
8. A Very Scottish Homecoming Archived 19 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Radio Listings, November 2009
9. Waterson, Jim (25 April 2020). "Radio 4's Aasmah Mir quits amid rumours of Times Radio role". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
10. Martin, Roy (27 April 2020). "Times Radio schedule revealed ahead of summer launch". radiotoday.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
11. Davies, Helen (16 July 2023). "Why Times Radio presenter Aasmah Mir was silent for years". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
12. "Sectarian row chief married to Celtic fan". The Scotsman. Johnston Publishing. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
13. Powar condemns high profile remarks Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine; British Eurosport
14. I want fairytale ending that allows me to sing Retrieved 13 March 2022