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Original poster

To strongly dislike Amol Rajan as a presenter?

277 replies

rellies · 26/04/2023 09:10

He’s now a presenter of Today on Radio 4. I can’t stand him. He doesn’t talk clearly, he mumbles all the time. He often seems ill-prepared for interviews and conducts them in such a casual manner which I suspect is his way of dealing with his nerves/lack of preparation. In TV interviews he slouches in his seat which just looks so unprofessional. Now he’s got the University Challenge gig. Why do people keep hiring him ? I wish he would just go away.

OP posts:
EmmaPaella · 21/07/2023 11:07

CurlewKate · 20/07/2023 21:52

I wonder what family strings were pulled to make him editor of the Independent at 29...

For about eighteen months before his appointment, Rajan had been the media advisor to the Independent's proprietor Evgeny Lebedev

Guessing this is how he got editor job. His CV seems otherwise fairly standard Oxbridge ‘wrote for Varsity, civil service internship, ended up on The Wright Show’.

RaraRachael · 21/07/2023 11:09

He rattled through the questions on University Challenge so quickly I struggled to hear some of them.

MeridianB · 21/07/2023 11:14

DeliciouslyDecadent · 20/07/2023 07:13

I can't stand him. He's ruined Today on Radio 4 (although Nick Robinson is a close second.)

He makes a 'virtue' of speaking non RP English- can't pronounce (or won't) the T in 'twenny' etc etc.

Seems to think his 'souff Lunnun' accent is attractive and will appeal to the plebs.

Plus, he comes across as arrogant.

And he's ruined University Challenge. He was speaking so fast it was impossible to hear the questions towards the end.

I agree with these points. Plus I’ve met him and he was not pleasant - super arrogant and very free with his criticism of others. It was a travesty to give him UC!

AgathaSpencerGregson · 21/07/2023 12:25

ForTheSnarkWasABoojumYouSee · 21/07/2023 08:57

Bamber didn't set the questions on UC (except for the first series perhaps) but he always checked through them to see whether he was happy with the answers, and made notes.

I think BG belongs to that class of people who must be regarded as being without any intellectual worth whatsoever, being as he was terribly posh and an OE.
mumsnet law innit

WhoppingBigBackside · 21/07/2023 12:32

You don't need to be an OE, on MN, any private school is 'Eton'

Zepherine · 21/07/2023 13:03

Abora · 26/04/2023 10:04

I don’t mind his style but I find his lack of enunciation means he is often difficult to understand. I find it great that the bbc now have a range of accents and not just RP, but the mumbling is unforgivable on the radio imo. Matters less on tv.

I find that difficult too. He slurs his words a lot and speaks very quickly. I don’t know how half the contestants on UC will hear the question properly.

senua · 21/07/2023 13:08

I can't stand him. He's ruined Today on Radio 4 (although Nick Robinson is a close second.)
I think NR is brilliant, I love his style. He doesn't interrupt and he lets his interviewee speak; they usually end up speaking too much and revealing too much. Very clever!
I went off the Today programme for several years because of John Humphrys and his ego, I couldn't stand him. Nick Robinson and Justin Webb have reeled me back in..

Amol doesn't do it for me. He may be intelligent but it doesn't come across. And his diction is awful.

AgathaSpencerGregson · 21/07/2023 13:11

WhoppingBigBackside · 21/07/2023 12:32

You don't need to be an OE, on MN, any private school is 'Eton'

Heh. Tru dat

Axelotl · 21/07/2023 13:37

Haven't watched him on UC, but on the couple of times I've heard him interviewing a celeb he was been bad.

The first time was a few years back when he was the arts and media correspondent. He was standing in for someone on r2 and interviewed the person very badly. Just sounded ill prepared lots of pauses and poor questions, I thought he won't get that gig again... clearly I was wrong.

A few weeks ago he was interviewing Brian Cox the actor- he was just as bad. Asked the same old questions that BC has answered before in his many interviews about Succession.

CurlewKate · 21/07/2023 13:39

@AgathaSpencerGregson "I think BG belongs to that class of people who must be regarded as being without any intellectual worth whatsoever, being as he was terribly posh and an OE"

What on earth do you mean?

AgathaSpencerGregson · 21/07/2023 13:40

He got a lot of flack for his Djokovic interview from people who seemed to think he should go studs up on the vaccination issue. I actually think he did quite well to be more nuanced and impartial, but since then he seems to have been more inclined to toe the BBC/soft lefty line. Shame.

AgathaSpencerGregson · 21/07/2023 13:42

CurlewKate · 21/07/2023 13:39

@AgathaSpencerGregson "I think BG belongs to that class of people who must be regarded as being without any intellectual worth whatsoever, being as he was terribly posh and an OE"

What on earth do you mean?

Am I actually supposed to waste my finger ends answering that?
what an utter tede

CurlewKate · 21/07/2023 15:05

You know-I'm beginning to suspect that militant anti private school campaigners are posting undercover on here to make the pro brigade look bad. If that's you, tone it down guys-"tede" was a step too far!🤣🤣🤣🤣

AgathaSpencerGregson · 21/07/2023 15:10

CurlewKate · 21/07/2023 15:05

You know-I'm beginning to suspect that militant anti private school campaigners are posting undercover on here to make the pro brigade look bad. If that's you, tone it down guys-"tede" was a step too far!🤣🤣🤣🤣

The militant anti brigade wouldn’t be capable of such underhand tactics. Far too stupid.

MrsSkylerWhite · 21/07/2023 23:37

Zepherine · Today 13:03
Abora · 26/04/2023 10:04

I don’t mind his style but I find his lack of enunciation means he is often difficult to understand. I find it great that the bbc now have a range of accents and not just RP, but the mumbling is unforgivable on the radio imo. Matters less on tv.
I find that difficult too. He slurs his words a lot and speaks very quickly. I don’t know how half the contestants on UC will hear the question properly.”

Oh for heaven’s sake give over. Paxo has been slurring for at least 3 years. Amol’s annunciation is very clear. As the higher scores indicate.

WeAreTheHeroes · 23/07/2023 15:26

It really isn't @MrsSkylerWhite Rajan slurs his words, often doesn't pronounce all the consonants and races through passages when he's repeating them, e.g. recapping news stories after the 8am headlines. Some of this is improving as he gains experience.

I agree that Paxo became very difficult to understand on occasions, but he started from a point before developing Parkinson's where he was very clear. A bit spiky perhaps for today's tastes, but his enunciation was clear.

CurlewKate · 23/07/2023 15:44

I am puzzled by this accusation of lack of clarity. I am old-and presumably have old ears-but I have no problem understanding him at all. I'm looking forward to listening to him again to see what people are talking about.

larkstar · 23/07/2023 15:53

@CurlewKate maybe you are used to hearing that sarf lunun accent - up here in the North he would get served in a bar.

CurlewKate · 23/07/2023 20:18

@larkstar " maybe you are used to hearing that sarf lunun accent - up here in the North he would get served in a bar."

Gosh. Well. Ah. My northern family aren't particularly snobbish-yours obviously are!

larkstar · 25/07/2023 09:11

@CurlewKate fell flat on my face with that one...I meant to have written "wouldn't" - I was thinking back to a singularly strange afternoon when I often to meet up with someone Is been chatting to on the internet, someone local, shared interests in music, similar job, etc - I was worried about her because her husband had died unexpectedly - a real shock - and all her family were back "home" in London - up until this point, light friendly banter, I hadn't thought about or planned to meet her but she she seemed so hysterical... anyway OMG she talked and talked and I really struggled with her accent - I found myself nodding and shaking my head at some things I didn't quite make out... she spoke so fast I didn't have the time to work out every single word.... do, I'll admit, I'm not a fan of the accent.

To be fair to AJ I thought he was OK on the second episode last night - I much prefer his supportive warmth to Paxman's Arctic arrogance. I still think there were so many other presenters I would have preferred. I do wonder if he's being groomed for some late night Parkinson type chat show in the future.

Still didn't like the set.

larkstar · 25/07/2023 09:18

AR... at least boxer AJ chooses his words carefully and speaks slowly.

Willmafrockfit · 31/07/2023 21:03

just seen him on University Challenge, he changed my mind, and I liked him!

larkstar · 01/08/2023 00:06

@Willmafrockfit I also have no complaints from tonight but it was a very close high scoring match and he didn't have to read out many (or any?) correct answers - that was my main complaint from the first episode - I did find him unintelligible but once again I prefer his supportive warmth to Paxman's caustic sneer.

CurlewKate · 01/08/2023 08:19

@larkstar wait- AR's ACCENT makes him incomprehensible? His accent?Seriously??Are we really that parochial?

WhoppingBigBackside · 01/08/2023 14:38

@CurlewKate , he doesn't enunciate clearly. @larkstar didn't mention accent in her most recent post.