Anita Rani, 43, is a presenter on the BBC’s Countryfile and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. She also presents on Radio 2, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Netflix.
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
To be an air hostess. We flew to India quite a lot and these women had independence, they could travel. It felt like the ultimate in glamour.
Private school or state school? University or straight into work?
Private schools, including Bradford Girls’ Grammar School. Then the University of Leeds. I did a placement at the BBC for six months, so that was the gateway to my career.
Who was or still is your mentor?
I don’t have a mentor, but there are people who’ve helped me and given me my breaks — I want to mention Sham Sandhu, commissioner at Channel 5.
How physically fit are you?
I’m one of those annoying people who has always exercised because I enjoy it. I feel lethargic and slow if I don’t exercise.
Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?
Ambitious people can achieve a lot, but the dream ticket is a combination of both. If you have an abundance of talent, you have to get off your arse and do something about it. Nothing lands in your lap.
How politically committed are you?
I’ve always been very aware of the planet, having visited India and seen abject poverty from a very young age. Realising it’s just an accident of birth that I am who I am makes me want to do what I can to at least draw attention to the causes dear to me, if not do something about them. I had the honour of being appointed a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador this year and I cannot wait to get stuck in. The refugee situation is only going to get worse.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
Languages: the power to communicate in every language. And a country pile would be nice.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
Quality time on my own, self-care, is a real luxury. Candles, flowers, reading a book. I spend a fortune on candles, literally burning money, but scent is so powerful.
In what place are you happiest?
Travelling in India, by train, by car, by auto rickshaw — any way. And travelling generally — you can switch off.
What ambitions do you still have?
Loads. But I don’t like talking about what I want to do until it’s done. I wanted to write a book for a long time, but didn’t want to say until it was done. Telling stories and helping other people do the same. And I have a silly ambition to be in an episode of Poirot — the costumes!
What drives you on?
An innate drive. I’m a doer. I don’t see the point of wasting time. I think it comes from my parents: seeing my folks work really hard every day.
What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
I don’t feel I’ve done anything. I’m hoping the book will be important to some people, maybe young women who don’t see themselves. I made a programme about partition some years ago and people still come up to me and say it opened a dialogue in their families; that feels important. Being married for 12 years.
What do you find most irritating in other people?
Moaners. And laziness.
If your 20-year-old self could see you now, what would she think?
She’d be pretty impressed and very happy. She’d like the success and independence, for sure. She wouldn’t believe how much make-up the adult me wears, though.
Which object that you’ve lost do you wish you still had?
Maybe my diaries from when I was a teenager. I’m non-sentimental about stuff.
What is the greatest challenge of our time?
There is so much! To see everybody as equal. We live in a first-world bubble. So much of the planet doesn’t even have access to water. We need to find our humanity: if we can’t even see beyond people’s skin colour yet, we haven’t evolved.
Do you believe in an afterlife?
Energy doesn’t die. It’s all still here in one shape or form.
If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
Seven. There’s so much yet to do.
“The Right Sort of Girl” by Anita Rani is published by Blink, part of Bonnier Books UK. She appears at Hay Festival Winter Weekend on November 27. hayfestival.com
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Anita Rani: ‘I don’t see the point of wasting time’
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