Amol Rajan is revealed as the next host of University Challenge

Journalist and broadcaster Amol Rajan was today announced as the new host of University Challenge taking over from Jeremy Paxman. 

The BBC Radio 4 Today presenter, 38, said replacing Paxman after three decades in the hot seat was ‘dream-come-true territory’. 

He said: ‘I have watched University Challenge obsessively for years, addicted to its high standards, glorious title music, and inspirational contestants.

‘It’s the best possible antidote to cynicism about young people, allowing millions of us to test our wits against the best minds of a new generation, and annoy and impress our families by barking answers from the sofa.’

The announcement of Paxman’s departure from the show came a year after the tough-talking journalist, 72, revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Rajan, who attended Cambridge University and who once appeared on the celebrity version of the show, said he was ‘very conscious’ that he had ‘vast shoes to fill’. 

‘With his immense intellect, authority, and respect from students and viewers alike, Jeremy hands over a format, and show, as strong as ever,’ he said. 

“I won’t stop thinking today about my late, beloved Dad, whose devotion to Education brought him to England, whose love of Knowledge I imbibed as a kid, and whose belief in the noble challenge of university so shaped my life.

‘I’ll devote my first Starter for 10 to him – and to the millions of quiz fiends who, like me, love those rare occasions when they know the answer before the students do.” 

Rajan has been front and centre of some of the broadcaster’s biggest – and most controversial – documentaries and interviews in recent years.

Rajan, who has in the past written openly about his republican views, sparked anger from the Royal Family over a documentary about Prince William and Harry and their relationship with the media last year.

In an unprecedented move following the airing of the documentary, named The Princes and the Press, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Clarence House, released a joint statement criticising the BBC for ‘giving credibility’ to ‘overblown and unfounded claims from unnamed sources’.

However the BBC defended the documentary at the time, saying: ‘The documentary included interviews with a range of print and broadcast reporters who follow the royals closely and heard their views on the relationship the press has with the royal family and what influences the stories that are published.’

The BBC was also faced a complaint from The Duchess of Sussex following a segment of a podcast – Harry, Meghan And The Media – to accompany the BBC2 documentary, in which it said Meghan Markle had apologised for ‘misleading’ the High Court.

The broadcaster said the Duchess of Sussex had asked it to ‘clarify’ that she had, in fact, apologised for ‘not remembering’ asking her former PR chief to help with the controversial royal biography Finding Freedom.

She had previously denied co-operating with the project. The BBC said she had ‘no intention to mislead the court on this’.

Rajan, a former editor of left-wing publication The Independent who is regarded as a rising star at the BBC, was also forced to apologise after making incendiary remarks in articles written in 2012 for the newspaper.  

He apologised after describing the public role of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as a ‘total fraud’ and called Prince Philip a ‘racist buffoon’.

After the remarks resurfaced, following the airing of the documentary, he tweeted: ‘In reference to very reasonable questions about some foolish commentary from a former life, I want to say I deeply regret it.

‘I wrote things that were rude and immature and I look back on them now with real embarrassment, and ask myself what I was thinking, frankly…’ 

Even before the controversial documentary aired the BBC faced a ‘bias’ row over selecting Rajan for the role, after it emerged he once called the idea of monarchy ‘absurd’.

He wrote: ‘When it comes to our absurd monarchy, journalists are so bamboozled by aristocratic wealth that they can only portray a confected picture to their audience.

”Mrs Wales – spare us from the ‘Duchess of Cambridge’ – is a beautiful lady, and does noble work. But like the rest of us she is prone to bad moods and bad breath, and doesn’t look her best on a hangover.

‘You wouldn’t know that from media coverage of her. What you get is an idol, not a person. I have absolutely nothing against Prince Harry, or Prince William, or Catherine Middleton, or the Queen.

‘Other royals, particularly Prince Philip and the scientifically illiterate Prince Charles, who champions policies that would lead to the murder by starvation of millions of Africans, I dislike.’

Rajan has also been involved in other controversies at the BBC. Earlier this year his ‘world exclusive’ interview with tennis star Novak Djokovic faced criticism for airing the Serbian ace’s anti-vax views.

The tennis star discussed the chaos around the cancellation of his Australian visa ahead of the Australian Open in January due to his vaccination status.

But it was claimed at the time of the interview that insiders at the corporation were concerned by the interview, including Rajan’s apparent ‘chumminess’ with Djokovic.