Former BBC Today host Mishal Husain reveals US revolutionary secrets of her ancestors – days after thinly veiled swipe at ‘bombastic’ presenters

Former BBC Today host Mishal Husain has revealed how her ancestors were ‘in the room’ at the start of the US Revolution – days after criticising ‘bombastic’ presenters for focusing on their personal lives.

Husain, 52, stood down from her role at the BBC in December 2024 after 11 years at the helm of Radio 4 and more than two decades at the corporation.

And after publishing a memoir last year detailing the lives of her grandparents through the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, she has now divulged further details uncovered about her ancestry.

Speaking in BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are series, Husain said it ‘blew her mind’ to have discovered family ties to the American Revolution in 1775.

She said: ‘It has given me a much broader sense of myself. To realise I had a connection to the end of the British Empire in another party of the world was extraordinary.’

After researching her family history, Husain discovered that her four-times great grandfather Joseph Farley – who she initially believed to be Irish – was a trader who moved from America to India in the 1800s.

She then found that Farley’s own father was involved in the American War of Independence, and had fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston.

And his father Michael – believed to be an ally of George Washington – was among the 92 men who voted against the first calls for ‘no taxation without representation’.

Mishal Husain, 52, stood down from her role at the BBC in December 2024 after 11 years at the helm and more than two decades at the corporation

After publishing a memoir last year detailing the lives of her grandparents through the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Mishal Husain has divulged further details of her ancestry

Speaking in BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are series, Husain said it ‘blew her mind’ to have discovered family ties to the American Revolution in 1775 

Husain said she ‘could have never imagined’ having ties to the Revolution and that she was ‘so proud’ that her family thought about ‘a different and better world’.

The 52-year-old’s revelations come less than a week after she took aim at ‘bombastic’ presenters, following concerns that the BBC Radio 4 programme has become more personality-focused.

The comments, which could be perceived as a veiled swipe aimed towards current presenters including Amol Rajan and Emma Barnett, were made after she was asked about the changes at the flagship Radio 4 breakfast show.

She told Vogue: ‘Personality-focused journalism doesn’t have to be bombastic. It doesn’t have to be about the presenters centring themselves.

‘Hopefully, if they’re a personality with journalistic integrity, journalistic values, then they can be a conduit to the news for people.’

When the broadcaster was asked whether she was comfortable with the changes, she said she was always part of a wider team rather than being focused on herself.

She said: ‘What was true to me was that I would very rarely use the word “I”, actually on air. I would quite often say, “We’ve talked to so and so”, because you’re always part of a team.’

‘From the booking of guests, the deciding to go down a certain route, the writing of a brief – broadcasting is a team effort.’ 

The 52-year-old’s revelations come less than a week after she took aim at ‘bombastic’ presenters, following concerns that the BBC Radio 4 programme has become more personality-focused (Pictured with her former colleagues) 

The comments, which could be perceived as a veiled swipe aimed towards current presenters incuding Amol Rajan and Emma Barnett (right), were made after she was asked about the changes at the flagship Radio 4 breakfast show 

‘So I would always say “we” and very rarely use the word “I”. That’s just what came naturally to me.’

Last November, Husain also said in a speech that she had faced more racism then ‘at any point’ in her career.

The presenter also said Britain now feels ‘worse’ and ‘more febrile’ than the month immediately after 9/11.

She said: ‘Racism is a part of many people’s everyday experience and people are at the sharp end of prejudice in many different ways as part of their daily experience, so I don’t think that what I’ve felt myself in the past year is, sadly, anything special or notable. It’s just that this past year was the moment where it came home to me.’

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are is set to begin on BBC One this evening and will feature other guests such as actors Andrew Garfield, Diane Morgan and Ross Kemp.

The episode featuring Husain is scheduled for broadcast next Tuesday.

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