List of British Bangladeshis: Difference between revisions

This is a list of notable British Bangladeshis.

Successful members from the community are recognized in the annual ”British Bangladeshi Who's Who,”^[1] ”BritBangla”^[2] and ”The British Bangladeshi Power 100”^[3] for their significant community work, contribution and achievements in British society.

Business

• Abdul Latif – Restauranteur known for his dish “Curry Hell.”^[4]
• British Curry Awards and Spice Business Magazine.^[5]
• British Bangladeshi to feature on the Sunday Times Rich List (placed at number 511 in 2006).^[6]
• Iqbal Wahhab OBE – Entrepreneur, restaurateur, journalist, publisher, founded Tandoori Magazine, and founder of multi-award winning restaurant Cinnamon Club.^[7]
• Mohammad Ajman 'Tommy Miah' – Internationally renowned celebrity chef, award winning restaurateur,^[8][9] founder and promoter of the Indian Chef of the Year Competition.^[10]
• Muquim Ahmed – Entrepreneur, who became the first Bangladeshi millionaire at the age of 26,^[11] due to diversification in banking, travel, a chain of restaurants with the Cafe Naz group, publishing and property development.^[12]
• series two
  in 2006.
• Nizamuddin 'Leepu' Awila – Car engineer, and coachbuilder who converts rusty old cars into imitation supercars in a workshop Channel reality television programme Bangla Bangers/Chop Shop: London Garage.^[13]
• series five in 2009.^[15]
• Ragib Ali – Industrialist, pioneer tea-planter, educationalist, philanthropist, and banker.^[16]
• Shelim Hussain MBE – Entrepreneur, founder and Managing Director of Euro Foods (UK) Limited.^[17]
• Siraj Ali – Businessman and philanthropist.^[18]
• series two in 2006.^[19]
• Taryn Khanam – Director and co-founder of BritBangla and a policy advisor for the Department of Health.^[20]
• Wali Tasar Uddin MBE – Entrepreneur, restauranteur, community leader, and chairman of the Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce.^[21][22]
• Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan OBE – Managing Director and Country Head of BOC Bangladesh Limited, one of the first British companies to invest in Bangladesh in the 1950s to produce and supply industrial and medical gases.^[23]

Media

• 2010 General Election.^[25] He is a television presenter on political and Islamic programmes on Islam Channel and Channel S.^[26]
• Kanak 'Konnie' Huq – Television presenter, best known for being the longest-serving female Blue Peter presenter.^[27][28]
• The West Country Tonight,^[29] one of the first Asian presenters to be seen on television.^[30] She won the Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy Best Television News Journalist Award.^[31][32]
• Mary Rahman – Press and public relations consultant, and director of MRPR.^[31]
• London Tonight.^[33]
• Rizwan Hussain – Barrister, television presenter, philanthropist, international humanitarian worker, former Hindi music singer and producer. Very well known for TV presenting Islamic and charity shows on Channel S and Islam Channel, mainly known within the community.^[34]
• World News’ bulletins on in 60 Seconds,^[36] and presenting E24 on the rolling news channel BBC News.^[37] Currently delivers news bulletins and breaking stories on ITV breakfast television programme Daybreak.^[38]

• Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano -- which has become the main song commemorating the Language Movement
  .
• A. N. M. Serajur Rahman – Journalist, broadcaster, and Bangladeshi nationalist.^[39]
• Fareena Alam – Editor of British Muslim Magazine Q News.^[40] She was named Media Professional of the Year by Islamic Relief in 2005 and at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2006.^[41]
• Nurul Islam – Broadcast journalist, radio producer, and presenter best remembered for his work with the BBC World Service.^[42]
• Shamim Chowdhury – Television and print journalist for Al Jazeera English.^[20]

Politics

• Cllr/Dr Anwara Ali – Politician, Conservative Party councillor in Regent's Park, Cabinet member for health and well-being in Tower Hamlets and General practitioner in Spitalfields Practice.^[43]
• directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010 and the first Bangladeshi leader of the council.^[44]
• Baroness Manzila 'Pola' Uddin – Labour Party life peer, community activist, and first Muslim and Asian to sit in the House of Lords.^[45]
• Cllr Maya Ali – Labour Party councillor in Westwood and solicitor.^[46]
• Cllr Muhammad Abdullah Salique – Labour Party member, Councillor for Bethnal Green North ward, Mayor of London Borough of Tower Hamlets for 2008/09 municipal year.^[47]
• Murad Qureshi – Labour Party politician, and Greater London Assembly Member.^[48]
• Cllr Shiria Khatun – Short listed mayoral Labour Party candidates in Tower Hamlets.^[49]
• Midlands region in 1999.^[50]
• Cllr Tulip Siddiq – Labour Party councillor in Regent's Park and cabinet member for culture in Camden London Borough Council.^[51]
• Cllr Rabina Khan – Labour Party politician, councillor in Shadwell, cabinet member for housing in Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, community worker and author of “Ayesha's Rainbow.”^[52]
• Cllr Rania Khan – Independent politician, councillor for Bromley-by-Bow and Cabinet member for culture and regeneration in Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. In 2006, at the age of 23, she was first elected as a councillor making her the youngest councillor in the country.^[53]
• Rohema Miah – Independent policy adviser and former political advisor for the Labour Party between 1992 and 2005.^[54]
• Bethnal Green and Bow Labour Party constituency. First person of Bangladeshi origin to be elected to the House of Commons,^[55] and one of first three Muslim women to be elected as an Member of Parliament.^[56]

• Bilal Shahid – Singer and rapper.^[57]
• Boyan Uddin Chowdhury – Former lead guitarist of rock band The Zutons.^[58]
• Deedar Zaman – Rapper/MC, and former member of electronica band Asian Dub Foundation then known as Master D.^[59]
• Farook Shamsher – Alternative dub/dance music DJ and record producer. He received the Commitment to Scene award at the UK Asian Music Awards 2006.^[60]
• Gouri Choudhury – Singer and music teacher.^[61]
• Idris Rahman – Clarinettist, saxophonist and music producer. He has produced and mixed albums, including two Mercury Prize-nominated albums (Zoe Rahman’s second album “Melting Pot” and Basquiat Strings' debut album, “Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford”) and two albums by vocalist Julia Biel.^[62]
• Jernade Miah – Singer, songwriter, signed to 2Point9 Records (Doh Point Nau). He won Best Newcomer at the UK Asian Music Awards 2011.^[63][64]
• Kamal Uddin – Nasheed singer, songwriter,^[65] Imam, and teacher.^[66] In September 2008, after winning the Islam Channel Nasheed Contest he performed at the Global Peace and Unity Event.^[67]
• Kishon Khan – Jazz composer, pianist arranger and music producer.^[68]
• Labbayk Nasheeds – Nasheed group.^[69]
• Lucy Rahman – Singer.^[70]
• Muhammad Mumith Ahmed (Mumzy Stranger) – R&B and hip-hop singer, songwriter. The first musician of Bangladeshi descent to release a music single, called One More Dance.^[71] Also won Best Urban Act at the UK Asian Music Awards 2011.^[72]
• Awakening Records.^[73]
• Rowshanara Moni – Singer and actress.^[74]
• Saifullah 'Sam' Zaman – DJ and producer associated with the Asian Underground movement, recording as State of Bengal.^[75]
• Double Platinum award.^[76]
• Sohini Alam – Singer for bands Lokkhi Terra^[77] and Khiyo.^[78]
• Suzana Ansar – Singer, actress, and television presenter based in the UK and Bangladesh. She released her debut band album Suzana Ansar with Khansar in 2009.^[79]
• Zoe Rahman – Jazz composer, and pianist. She won the Perrier Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award 1999.^[80]

Drama

• Padma Patil in the Harry Potter film series.^[81]
• Dino Shafeek – Actor, and comedian starred in several sitcoms during the 1970s and early 80s. He is best remembered for playing the role of Char Wallah Muhammed in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Ali Nadim in Mind Your Language.^[82]
• Hannan Majid – Documentary filmmaker whose films have been exhibited at several international film festivals including Emirates, Cambridge, Durban, and Leeds.^[83]
• Jalil Iqbal in BBC soap opera EastEnders and Sweet Boy in the film Shank.^[84]
• Nazrin Choudhury – Screenwriter, and actress on drama serials.^[85] Her critically acclaimed radio play “Mixed Blood”^[86] won the Richard Imison Award 2006.
• Ruhul Amin – Film director who has made 13 films for the BBC and Channel 4 including 1986 TV feature film drama A Kind of English.^[87] Most of them are documentaries and experimental dramas.^[88]
• London, Dubai, Mumbai, New York and other film festivals. ^[90]
• Parvati Patil in the Harry Potter film series.^[91]
• BBC2 screenplay Flight won an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy Award in 1998. She won the Arts and Culture Award at the Asian Women Achievement Awards in 2003. Her play The Waiting Room staged by the Royal National Theatre won the John Whiting Award in 2000.^[92]
• video jockey.^[93] She is best known for playing the role of Poppy Morales in Coronation Street between 2008 and 2009.^[94][95]

• Akram Khan MBE – Dancer and choreographer.^[96] Received numerous awards including Outstanding Newcomer 2000, Best Modern Choreography 2002, and Outstanding Male or Female Artist (Modern) 2005 at the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards.^[97]
• Eenasul Fateh (Aladin) – Cultural practitioner, magician and live artist, named International Magician of the Year in 1991, and winner of the 1997 Golden Turban Award from the Magic Academy of Bangalore, in India.^[97]
• Kaniz Ali – Makeup artist and freelance beauty columnist.^[98] She won Best Make-Up Artist category at the 2011 International Asian Fashion Awards.^[99]
• Rezia Wahid MBE – Award-winning textile artist whose work has been exhibited both in the UK and abroad.^[100]
• Ruby Hammer MBE – Fashion and beauty makeup artist,^[101] and founder of Ruby & Millie cosmetics brand.^[102]
• Ruh al-Alam – Islamic artist, and founder of Islamic calligraphic artwork project Visual Dhikr.^[103][103]
• Runa Islam – Film and photography visual artist, nominated for the Turner Prize 2008.^[104][105]
• Sanchita Islam – Artist, writer and filmmaker.^[106] In 1999, she founded Pigment Explosion, which has branched out into projects including film, painting, drawing, writing and photography..^[107]

Education

• Prof Andy Miah – Professor in Ethics & Emerging Technologies and Director of the Creative Futures Research Centre^[108] at the University of the West of Scotland.
• Religious Education classes, especially in British schools.^[109]
• Prof Tipu Zahed Aziz – Professor of neurosurgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and lecturer at Magdalen College, Oxford and Imperial College London medical school.^[110]

Literature

• Dr Ghulam Murshid – Author, scholar, and journalist. He's received numerous top literary awards from India and Bangladesh including the Bangla Academy award.^[111]
• Kia Abdullah – Novelist and journalist. She contributes to The Guardian newspaper^[112] and has written two novels: Life, Love and Assimilation^[113] and Child’s Play.^[114]
• Mohammed Mahbub 'Ed' Husain – Writer of the book The Islamist on account of his experience for five years with the Hizb ut-Tahrir.^[115][116]
• Brick Lane a story based on a Bangladeshi woman.^[117]
• 9/11 Truth Movement.^[118]
• Rekha Waheed – Writer and novelist best known as the author of ”The A-Z Guide To Arranged Marriage.”^[119]
• Rupa Huq – Senior lecturer in Sociology at Kingston University, writer, columnist, Labour Party politician, music DJ and former Deputy Mayoress of the London Borough of Ealing.^[120]
• Roopa Farooki – Novelist.^[121]
• Shamim Azad – Bilingual poet, storyteller and writer^[122]
• Commonwealth Writers' Prize.^[123]

• Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh after independence
  in 1971.
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office^[126]
• Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin – Trustee (former Chairman) of Muslim Aid.^{[127][127][128][129]}
• Community Leadership.^[130]
• Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE – Physicist, educationalist, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain from 2006 until 2010, and chairman of the East London Mosque.^[131]
• Celebrity Big Brother (UK) 2006.^[132]
• Dr Husna Ahmad – Chief Executive Officer of the Faith Regen Foundation. She sits on the Advisory Board to the East London Mosque^[133][134] and she previously sat on the Department for Work and Pensions' Ethnic Minority Advisory Group (EMAG).^[135]
• Secretary General of Amnesty International; she is the first woman, Asian, and Muslim to hold the position;^[137] she won Sydney Peace Prize 2006.^[138]
• Khatun Sapnara – Barrister and part-time judge. In 2003, she was the first ethnic person to be elected to the Family Law Bar Association Committee. In 2004, she was appointed to the Family Justice Council.^[139] She assisted in formulating and drafting the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007.^[140] In 2006, she was appointed as a Recorder of the Crown, which made her the only person of Bangladeshi origin in a senior judicial position.
• Dr Nazia Khanum – Management consultant, researcher, director of Equality in Diversity, non-executive director for NHS Luton and chair of various voluntary community organisations.^[141]
• Saleemul Huq – Scientist, and Senior Fellow in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development. He was awarded the Burtoni Award in 2007 for his work on climate change adaptation.^[142]
• BRAC UK, Labour Party politician, and councillor for London Borough of Brent.^[143]

• Dagenham and Redbridge he became first British Asian to captain a side in the top four divisions.^[144] He currently plays for Sutton United.^[145]
• Jahid Ahmed – Cricketer who played country cricket for Essex as a right-handed lower order batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler.^[146]
• Ruqsana Begum – Muay Thai kickboxer. In November 2010, she became the current British female Atomweight (48–50 kg) Muay Thai boxing Champion. In September 2012, she was nominated as captain of the British Muay Thai Team.^[147]
• Shahed Ahmed – Former professional footballer who played as a striker for Wycombe Wanderers.^[145] He currently plays for Sporting Bengal United^[148] and has now been appointed as captain.
• Tahmina Begum – Football referee and PE assistant. In 2010, she became the first qualified female referee of Bangladeshi descent in the United Kingdom.^[149][150]

Other

• Dr Humayra Abedin – National Health Service Doctor of Medicine who became a cause célèbre after her parents tried to force her into marriage and held her captive until she was freed by court order.^[151][152]
• MP Stephen Timms on 14 May 2010 during his constituency surgery in an attempt to kill him. She was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years.^[153]
• The Road to Guantanamo.^[154][155]
• Saiman Miah – Architecture student who designed the £5 coins for the London 2012 Summer Olympics Games.^[156][157]
• Shabina Begum – Was involved in the leading House of Lords case UKHL 15 R (Begum) v Governors of Denbigh High School (2006) on the legal regulation of religious symbols and dress under the Human Rights Act 1998
  .

• British Bangladeshi
• History of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom
• List of Bangladeshi people
• List of Bengalis
• List of Bangladeshi Americans
• List of Bangladesh-related topics

References