Naga Munchetty is a very familiar face to many Brits who tune into the Breakfast television programme, BBC Breakfast, which airs on BBC One and the BBC News channels every morning. The television presenter and journalist, who is of Mauritanian and Indian origin, is also known for regularly presenting BBC World News and Victoria Derbyshire, after having made her name on the network as a part of the now-cancelled BBC financial affairs programme, Working Lunch.
Read on to find out all there is to know about her early beginnings, love life, earnings, and career.
Naga Munchetty Biography
Naga Munchetty was born Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah on the 25th of February, 1975, in Streatham, South London, England. Her father, whose name is unknown, is from Mauritius while her mother, Muthu Chendriah, is Indian. The pair, who both worked as Nurses, although her mother had started out as a dentist, met as international students in Wales in the 1970s before going ahead to marry each other.
The family later settled in London where their daughter attended Graveney School in Tooting, London. Much to the surprise of her parents, Munchetty enrolled to study English at the University of Leeds after leaving secondary school. She has publicly spoken about how her decision to read English surprised her parents since it was thought that she would instead be following in their footsteps to study something related to medicine.
After graduating, Naga Munchetty was able to land her first job as a journalist for the London Evening Standard, working on its City Pages. During this time, she also worked in the Business Section of The Observer. After a few years, Munchetty made the move from print media to television as she was hired as a reporter for Reuters Financial Television. Her career moved from height to height in the televised/news broadcasting world as she rose to become a senior producer for CNBC Europe, and then a business producer and reporter for Channel 4 News.
In late 2008, after having also worked as a presenter on Bloomberg Television, Munchetty joined the newly revamped business, personal finance, and consumer news BBC programme, Working Lunch. She remained on the show until it was cancelled in 2010, after which she moved on to present early morning bulletins on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. She also served as a London finance reporter for BBC News and hosted the Radio 4 show, Money Box.
Where is Naga Munchetty Now?
In the 2010s, Naga Munchetty became very active in a number of extra-curricular activities. She has competed in a number of semi-professional and amateur golf tournaments, notably winning the Hertfordshire de Paula Cup at Bishop’s Stortford Golf Club in 2012. In addition to her golfing, she has also competed on the celebrity dance contest show, Strictly Come Dancing. Munchetty participated in the fourteenth series of the show where she was only able to last until week four before she and her partner were voted out.
In regards to her work, Munchetty became a regular presenter on BBC One’s Breakfast programme. In 2016, she replaced Sian Williams as presenter of Sunday Morning Live on BBC One, however, her time on the show lasted for only a year as she was replaced by Emma Barnett and Sean Fletcher in 2017. That same year, she and Fletcher co-presented the annual Teachers Awards ceremony in the UK, Britain’s Classroom Heroes.
Naga Munchetty’s Salary
Naga Munchetty is very far off from ranking amongst the likes of Chris Evans, Jeremy Vine, and Gary Lineker, who are the highest-paid employees of the BBC. That is, however, not to say that the BBC Breakfast presenter does not do very well for herself as she reportedly gets paid between £150,000 and £199,999 by the news channel.
Husband – James Haggar
Naga Munchetty is married to English actor and director James Haggar. The pair were said to have met each other at a public event in 2005 and began dating soon after. Their relationship lasted for two years before Haggar made the bold step of asking for Munchetty’s hand in marriage. They got married in 2007 and have been together ever since.
Munchetty and Haggar do not yet have any children of their own, however, they have two Siamese cats named Kinky and Ronnie which they hold very dear to their hearts.
