Nadiya Hussain

Nadiya Hussain
Born	Nadiya Jamir Begum (1984-12-25) 25 December 1984 Luton, Bedfordshire, England
Nationality	British/Bangladeshi
Ethnicity	Bengali
Occupation	Television personality, newspaper columnist
Years active	2015–present
Agent	AK Artist Management
Television	The Great British Bake Off Loose Women
Spouse(s)	Abdal Hussain
Children	3
Website	Official website

Nadiya Jamir Hussain (born 25 December 1984) is a British-Bangladeshi baker, columnist and author, who won the sixth series of BBC's The Great British Bake Off. Hussain is a columnist for The Times Magazine and Essentials Magazine, has signed publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Hodder Children's Books, and Harlequin. She is also regular reporter for The One Show and a guest panellist on Loose Women.

Early life

Hussain is a first-generation Bangladeshi born and raised in Luton, where she attended Challney High School and Luton Sixth Form College. She was one of six children, with three sisters and two brothers.

Hussain learned basic cooking skills at school; her mother never baked and used the oven for storage. She taught herself the rest from recipe books and watching videos on YouTube. Her favourite book is a baking book by Irish novelist Marian Keyes.

At the time of The Great British Bake Off, Hussain was a full-time mum living in Leeds with her husband, an IT specialist, and studying for an Open University degree in Childhood and Youth Studies. As part of a pre-arranged wager with her husband, their house was sold, within seven days, in preparation for a move to Milton Keynes.

Television career

The Great British Bake Off

Main article: The Great British Bake Off

In 2015, Hussain appeared on and won the sixth series of The Great British Bake Off. During the final she baked 16 iced buns in three hours, as well as raspberry-flavoured mille-feuille, to one of Paul Hollywood's recipes, in two hours, and a multi-layered presentation showstopper which took the form of "My Big Fat British Wedding Cake", in a time of four hours. During her acceptance speech, she said, "I'm never gonna put boundaries on myself ever again. I'm never gonna say I can't do it. I'm never gonna say 'maybe'. I'm never gonna say, 'I don't think I can.' I can and I will."

With more than 15 million viewers, the final was the most-watched show of 2015. Her appearance on the show, and ensuing popularity with audiences, were deemed important steps toward shifting stereotypes about the Muslim community and acceptance about cultural diversity.

Hussain established a large following on social media thanks to her stunning show-stoppers and her illuminating facial expressions, her online followers describe themselves as "Nadiyators" and also won backing of Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Chronicles of Nadiya

Hussain is to front BBC1 travel cookery show, in which she travels to Bangladesh to trace her culinary roots. The show is produced by Love Productions, creators of The Great British Bake Off.

Media appearances

On Christmas Day 2015, Hussain made a cameo appearance in the BBC One show Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show recorded at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Hussain has been a regular reporter for The One Show on BBC One.

Hussain is a guest presenter on Loose Women. She announced on the programme that she had been given the honour of baking Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday cake, an orange drizzle cake with orange curd and orange butter cream. Hussain said: "When I told the kids (I was making a cake for the Queen), the boys were great at keeping it a secret. I told my daughter and she said, 'Oh Mary Berry? You’ve made lots of cakes for Mary Berry'."

Writing career

Hussain writes a weekly column for The Times Magazine, a part of the Saturday supplement of The Times, as well as a monthly column in Essentials Magazine, and her recipes have also appeared in BBC's Good Food magazine.

In December 2015 Hussain was signed by UK publisher Michael Joseph, part of Penguin Random House, for her debut book featuring both cooking and baking recipes. She is also writing a children's book of stories and recipes, due to be published by Hodder Children's Books and is writing three contemporary women’s fiction novels for Harlequin.

In 2016 Hussain was a Judge alongside Tom Fletcher on ITV Lorraine's competition to find a new children's author.

Baking career

Queen Elizabeth II's 90th Birthday

Nadiya was commissioned by Buckingham Palace to bake Elizabeth II's cake as part of her 90th birthday celebrations. Hussain chose to bake an orange drizzle cake with orange curd and orange buttercream.

Personal life

Hussain is married to Abdul Hussain and they have three children - two sons and a daughter. Hussain's birthday is on Christmas Day and her sister Sadiya's birthday is on Christmas Eve.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Channel	Role
2015	The Great British Bake Off	BBC One	Contestant
2015, 2016—	The One Show		Guest, reporter
2016—	Loose Women	ITV	Guest panellist
2016	The Chronicles of Nadiya	BBC One	Presenter

Guest appearances

• Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show (2015)
• CBeebies Bedtime Story (2016)
• Delete, Delete, Delete (2016)

Bibliography

• Nadiya's Kitchen (Michael Joseph, June 2016) ISBN 9780718184513
• Nadiya's Bake Me a Story (Hodder Children's Books, September 2016) ISBN 9781444933277

External links

• Official website
• Nadiya Hussain at the Internet Movie Database
• Nadiya Hussain on Twitter