‘Admitting you’re a journalist is difficult to admit to all sorts of people,’ was how Bharat Patel began his talk at the June meeting. He is well known from his roles on BBC Radio Leicester, Radio 4, Central ITV and BBC TV. He reminded us that he had covered numerous stories in his time, preferring a three times axe murderer to following royalty, where you can only follow and take pictures. However, he made us laugh with a story about Dodgy Dave, a photographer, who inadvertently took embarrassing pictures of a lady in waiting getting out of a car. He has checked out stories from places that are so dirty you would decline a cup of tea to interviewing a millionaire, who later sent in his bill for the helicopter fuel and large parking fee.
We were able to buy signed copies of Bharat’s book, ‘Indian Takeaway’, all proceeds from the sales going to the Hope Against Cancer charity, which has already found several cures for cancers through the research it funds. The research is based at Leicester University. Bharat briefly touched on his early life, how his family moved to Zambia from India (with servants being the norm) and then to a two up, two down terraced house with an outside toilet and leaking roof in Highfields in Leicester. I look forward to reading lots more about his life and his travels when returning to India in later life. You can also check out his story on BBC Sounds: Indian Takeaway.
Bharat has since sent this: “Thanks for having me – got a pleasant surprise after counting sales and donations – £210.33 plus your fee!”
Helen Salisbury, Publicity Officer