2005 - The Judges
Profiles

Sue MacGregor (Chair) was the longest serving presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme until she left in 2002, before which she fronted Woman's Hour for fifteen years. Currently she hosts A Good Read on Radio 4 and The Reunion. She is a trustee of UNICEF UK, and chairman of the Board of the Young Concert Artists' Trust.  She has received many awards for her radio work over the years, including the CBE for services to broadcasting.

Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Royal Society. Marcus du Sautoy is author of the best-selling popular mathematics book The Music of the Primes, published by Fourth Estate and translated into 8 languages. He writes for The Times, Daily Telegraph and The Guardian and is frequently asked for comment on radio and TV. In September 2004 he presented his own series, 5 Shapes, on Radio 4. Currently he is presenting the popular TV game show, Mind Games, for BBC FOUR.

Andrew Holgate has been deputy literary editor at The Sunday Times since 1999. He read history at Durham University and has worked in the book trade - in bookselling, publishing and literary journalism - for 23 years. The editor of two books - The Cost of Letters and The Test of Time - he is currently writing a history of London.

Maria Misra teaches history at Oxford University and is a broadcaster and writer on history and current affairs. She wrote and presented the three-part Channel 4 series An Indian Affair which was broadcast in 2001 and she is a regular presenter on BBC4’s Talk Show. She has also contributed to several documentaries and radio programmes on contemporary culture and international politics and she is currently developing projects on the Middle East and India. Maria is the author of The Penguin History of Modern India (2003) and also writes for New Statesman.

John Simpson was appointed BBC World Affairs Editor in 1998. He specialises in East-West relations, the Soviet Bloc, Iran and Afghanistan. He has reported from trouble spots around the world including Angola, South America, Baghdad and the former Yugoslavia. In 2001 he was among the first journalists to enter Kabul. John Simpson was awarded a CBE in 1991 during the Gulf War Honours List. In 1996, he won the RTS award for International Current Affairs, a Peabody Trust Award for News and The One World Best Bi-Media News award for the Afghanistan trilogy produced for Newsnight.