Distinguished friends
Maria Adebowale-Schwarte
Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia
Rajesh Agrawal
Riz Ahmed
Sughra Ahmed
Keith Ajegbo
Claire Alexander
Kitty Arie
Julian Baggini
Zelda Baveystock
Haidee Bell
Richard Beswick
Dinesh Bhugra
Karan Bilimoria
Geoffrey Bindman
Karen Blackett
Nicholas Blake
Ian Blatchford
David Blunkett
Hina Bokhari
Mihir Bose
Alain de Botton
John Bowers
Stephen Briganti
Des Browne
Mukti Jain Campion
Paul Canoville
Gus Casely-Hayford
Michael Cashman
Saimo Chahal
Reeta Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti
Stephen Claypole
Robin Cohen
Linda Colley
David Crystal
Angélica Dass
Prakash Daswani
Sandie Dawe
Navnit Dholakia
Sherry Dobbin
Ibrahim Dogus
Lloyd Dorfman
Alf Dubs
John Dyson
Damien Egan
Graeme Farrow
Daniel Franklin
Edie Friedman
Jitesh Gadhia
Manjit Singh Gill
Teresa Graham
Ann Grant
Susie Harries
Naomie Harris
James Hathaway
David Hencke
Sophie Herxheimer
Afua Hirsch
Michael Howard
Clive Jacobs
Kevin Jennings
Adrian Johns
Shobu Kapoor
Malik Karim
Jackie Kay
Ayub Khan-Din
Francesca Klug
Tony Kushner
Kwasi Kwarteng
Kwame Kwei-Armah
David Kynaston
Brian Lambkin
Mark Lewisohn
Joanna Lumley
Michael Mansfield
Sue McAlpine
Neil Mendoza
Nick Merriman
Abigail Morris
Hugh Muir
Tessa Murdoch
Sandy Nairne
Bushra Nasir
Susheila Nasta
Eithne Nightingale
John O’Farrell
Kenneth Olisa
Kunle Olulode
Julia Onslow-Cole
John Orna-Ornstein
Sameer Pabari
Ruth Padel
Panikos Panayi
Bhikhu Parekh
Nikesh Patel
David Pearl
Caryl Phillips
Mike Phillips
Trevor Phillips
Sunand Prasad
Kavita Puri
Charles Rix
Trevor Robinson
Aubrey Rose
Michael Rosen
Cathy Ross
Salman Rushdie
Jill Rutter
Philippe Sands
Sathnam Sanghera
Konrad Schiemann
Richard Scott
Stephen Sedley
Maggie Semple
Babita Sharma
Nikesh Shukla
Jon Snow
Sonia Solicari
Robert Soning
David Spence
Danny Sriskandarajah
Stelio Stefanou
Dick Taverne
Jane Thompson
Robert Tombs
Rumi Verjee
Patrick Vernon
Edmund de Waal
Iqbal Wahhab
Yasmin Waljee
David Warren
Iain Watson
Debbie Weekes-Bernard
Henning Wehn
Nat Wei
Janet Whitaker
Gary Younge
The Migration Museum is the story of who we are. It showcases the rich history of multicultural Britain in a unique and creative way, providing a valuable insight into the the world around us.
Babita Sharma
Babita Sharma is a Broadcaster, Journalist & award-winning Author.
She is the author of The Corner Shop, published by Two Roads (2019), a book that charts the social history of this unsung hero of British life. As someone who grew up above a corner shop in 1980s Britain, Babita gives a fascinating perspective of the political and economic climate during her childhood through the lens of corner shop life. The Corner Shop was awarded a Business Book Award, BBC Radio Four Book of the Week and BBC2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick.
Babita is a leading commentator on multicultural Britain, hosting TED talk: The Corner Shop: The truth about immigration and working alongside the National Trust and the Migration Museum for two major projects about corner shop life in Britain.
Her new children’s book series: The Adventures of Priya Mistry will be published by Hachette Children’s Group in 2024.
As a documentarian, Babita has presented several television documentaries, one of which, Booze, Beans & Bhajis: The Story of the Corner Shop, was broadcast on BBC Four, BBC News Channel and BBC World News to critical acclaim.
Her landmark series Dangerous Borders: The Story of India & Pakistan on BBC Two took her to the India/Pakistan border 70 years after partition. Here she followed in the footsteps of her family who were directly affected at the time of Partition.
Babita is an award-winning journalist and spent 10 years presenting across BBC News covering major global news events including Covid-19 pandemic, US Elections 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests. She was awarded the Asian Achievement Award for contributions in Media, Arts and Culture.
She is passionate about diversity and mental health issues; mentoring BAME journalists and is on the Board of Trustees for United for Global Mental Health and Patron of the South Asian Heritage Trust. Alongside the FCDO & BBC Media Action, Babita has developed international media training programmes for young aspiring journalists.