Sarfraz Manzoor

Sarfraz Manzoor (born June 9 1971) is a British writer, journalist, documentary maker, and broadcaster. He writes regularly for "The Guardian", presents documentaries on BBC Radio 4, and appears as a cultural commentator on programmes such as "Newsnight Review" and "Saturday Review". His first book, "Greetings from Bury Park" was published in the summer of 2007. He lives in London.

Early life and education

Manzoor was born in Pakistan and arrived in Britain in May 1974. He accompanied his mother, older brother and sister to join their father Mohammed Manzoor who had left Pakistan in 1963 in order to seek work. Manzoor attended Maidenhall Infants and Primary Schools in the Bury Park district of Luton. In the autumn of 1979 Manzoor’s family moved to the Marsh Farm estate and he attended Wauluds Junior School and in the autumn of 1982 began at Lea Manor High School. After taking his A levels at Luton Sixth Form College Manzoor left Luton to study Economics and Politics at Manchester University. He graduated in 1992, began a Masters degree in Documentary Production at Salford University in the autumn of 1995 and remained in Manchester until September 1996 when he returned to Luton and began at ITN.

Manzoor lived in a shared house in south Manchester where he had the attic room and hid himself away, only to emerge on occasion to try and converse with his housemates.

Career

During six years at ITN he worked as a producer on Channel 4 News and also reported for the programme interviewing such figures as Woody Allen, Brian Wilson, Sinéad O'Connor, Peter Gabriel, Don McCullin and Charlie Watts. He left Channel 4 News and joined Channel 4 as a deputy commissioning editor before signing with Bloomsbury to write his first book.

Manzoor has written for "The Guardian", "The Observer", "The Times", "The Independent", "New Statesman", "The Spectator", Prospect", "Marie Claire", "Uncut" and "Daily Mail".

Manzoor scripted and partially directed "The Great British Asian Invasion" for Channel 4. He wrote and directed "Death of a Porn Star" for Channel 4 which told the tragic story of the life and death of Lolo Ferrari. He presented Channel 4's main coverage of the 2005 Guardian Hay Book Festival where he interviewed Monica Ali and Will Self.

In the spring of 2005 Sarfraz Manzoor wrote and presented "Luton Actually", a documentary for BBC 2. The programme, a personal and affectionate portrait of his hometown, featured Manzoor tracing his family’s journey from Pakistan to Luton.

Manzoor has written and presented documentaries for Radio 4. These include "From Luton Streets to Jersey Shores" where he travelled to New Jersey to examine the connections between Bruce Springsteen's New Jersey and Manzoor’s hometown of Luton; "Don’t Call Me Asian" which examined the rise in British Indians and Pakistanis defining themselves by their religion and nationality rather than simply as British Asians; "A Class Apart" which explored the consequences of faith schools on social cohesion; "Taking the Cricket Test" which saw Manzoor follow the Pakistan cricket team across England during the 2006 test series and "Knocking Down the Past" where Manzoor visited housing estates in London and Glasgow to assess how the construction of tower blocks during the sixties impacted upon two communities in England and Scotland. Manzoor is on the editorial committee for the Edinburgh Television Festival and is chairing one of the judging panels of the Sony Radio Awards.

As well as his documentaries on Radio 4 Sarfraz Manzoor used to present "Up All Night" each Saturday night on BBC Radio Five Live and is also an occasional presenter and guest critic on BBC Radio 2's "The Weekender".

External links

* [http://www.sarfrazmanzoor.co.uk Official website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/review/4206503.stm BBC biography]