Sathnam Sanghera was born to India-born Punjabi parents in Wolverhampton, West Midlands in 1976, who is also my Mum’s cousin.
He attended Wolverhampton Grammar School and in 1998, Sanghera graduated at Christ’s College, Cambridge to study English Language and Literature and obtained a first class degree.
Between the years 1998 and 2006, Sanghera worked as a news reporter in the UK and US for The Financial Times and currently works at The Times London.
His first book, The Boy With The Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton, was published in 2009 and had been shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2008.
My own scanned image of The Boy With The Topknot book cover.
The memoir explores the challenges of my uncle being a young Sikh boy living and growing up in the UK, the pressures of having non English-speaking parents and the difficulties of trying to conceal scandalous surprises which would upset the Sikh community and his family.
However at the age of 24, his world comes crashing down with the discovery of shocking news to those closest to him.
This book (which I highly recommend to read!) will make you laugh and cry as you are able to experience the troubles that Sanghera had to face in order to get to where he is today.
My favourite part of the book is when Sanghera goes to get his hair cut and the barber asks: “Your dad know you doing this?”.
The reason why I find this funny is because Sanghera is showing his ‘rebellious’ side as religious Sikhs are not allowed to cut their hair and Sanghera was worried about his mother’s reaction, not his father’s.
However he was surprised as to how his mother reacted and she said that she knew he “was being bullied”.
There is also a photo of my Nanna Ji (maternal grandfather) on page 157 of Sanghera’s memoir which always makes me smile.
With an article that was published by the Birmingham Mail on Friday 27 October, I found out that my uncle’s book was to be turned into a BBC film adaptation which will be aired on Monday 13 November, 9pm on BBC2.
Birmingham Mail Article
The article explains that there was a premier of the 90-minute film on Wednesday 8 November at the Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton and that there was a Q&A with Sanghera himself.
Sacha Dawan, the star of Iron Fist, will portray the older version of Sanghera and the younger version will be played by Himmut Singh Dhatt from Oldbury.
Feel so lucky to have had a screening for #TheBoyWithTheTopKnot in my home town. Dream evening, thankyou everyone who came & @BBCTwo @KudosTV @Wolves @DJNoreenKhan @DiederickSant @ExpressandStar. Broadcast Monday, 9pm innit pic.twitter.com/X7eG2zve58
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) November 9, 2017
Being Sikh myself it is easy to see the similarities and differences of Sanghera’s life compared to mine and I am extremely excited for the broadcast as I fully enjoyed reading his book.
Trailer
This opportunity that Sanghera has gained means the world to me and my family who are able to see their own flesh and blood’s work flourish from print to broadcast.
As I have never met my uncle, I wish to meet you at some point in my life, either as uncle and niece or as professional journalists in the future, as I now have another idol to look up to.
I am very proud of you.
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