About the team

Anu Anand

Anu came to Britain and the BBC World Service quite by accident, having fallen for the Hugh-Grant-esque charms of her English husband.

Anu Anand

After discovering (to her delight and dismay) that the British do not speak American English, Anu joined the World Service, hoping to polish up her language skills.

She particularly enjoys having her pronunciation of words such as 'aluminum', 'laboratory' and 'tomato' corrected by her British colleagues.

In her spare time, Anu escapes to Kashmir - where she was born; and America- where she grew up, as often as possible.

Ros Atkins

Ros Atkins is a relatively new arrival at the BBC World Service, having made the move from the BBC's domestic news and sport radio station Five Live. There he specialised in world news and sport so he's settling in here very well.

Though he hails from Cornwall in the far south-west of England, he also lived in Nassau and Port of Spain while growing up, and began his career in Johannesburg, where he discovered the pleasures of listening to the World Service. On returning to the UK, he edited the website of London's Time Out magazine before taking the plunge at the BBC.

His knowledge of Africa and the Caribbean has been utilised with reporting trips covering Kenyan corruption, Trinidad and Tobago carnival and, in the next few months, Ghana's progress at the World Cup. As well as World Have Your Say on a Monday and Tuesday, you'll also hear Ros on the World Today and the World Service's arts and entertainment programme The Ticket.

When not presenting, Ros has been known to take to the turntables, and has DJed at festivals such as Fruitstock in London, WOMAD in Reading and OppiKoppi in South Africa.

Kevin Anderson

Kevin has been an online journalist for almost 10 years now and would claim to have invented the internet if former US vice president Al Gore hadn't beat him to the punch.

He's been with the BBC for the last seven years for the most part in the BBC Washington bureau. During the 2004 election, he was the BBC's election blogger, and now the team routinely quizzes him to find out if there is a blogger he doesn't know or hasn't e-mailed.

He does actually enjoy offline activities including cooking. In fact, some have suggested that he do a cooking webcast. He enjoys spending at least a week a year off the grid walking in the middle of no where, leaving all his gadgets and net toys behind.

While in the UK, his main goal is to prove that, in fact, Americans can play soccer.

Fiona Crack

Fiona arrived at Bush House, the home of World Service Radio, from the BBC News Website.

She thinks her work on the Talking Point programme and Have Your Say pages have taught her to select debates that get people fired up. Prior to that she worked for a BBC current affairs programme Panorama and at Amnesty International.

Fiona loves the BBC so much that she represents the corporation at netball. Her and her team mates take matches very seriously, discussing tactics at half time over a quick cigarette.

She loves cooking delicious meals for mostly ungrateful friends and spends too much time and money in shoe shops.

Peter van Dyk

If you want a nit picked then look no further - no detail is too small to be argued over. And don't worry about his curmudgeonly nature - it's just the result of three decades supporting Watford Football Club.

Peter van Dyk

His start in journalism came in late-90s Moscow, but when in 2001 the dot-com bust hit the prospects of a young web site editor he joined the BBC.

Radio may not be rocket science, but on the days that it feels like it is, Peter likes to point to his Masters degree in Space Science hanging in an embossed frame on the wall.

David Mazower

David still misses the typewriters that were around when he joined the BBC 15 years ago, but is slowly coming to terms with new technology. His motto: if I can use it, anyone can.

He's covered big stories in Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem for World Service news programmes, but has had most fun persuading Singapore's reticent politicians to tell their favourite jokes.

Ambitions include being able to play Chopin better, spend less time on eBay, and reach base camp in the foothills of geekland.

Rabiya Parekh

Rabiya took a typically conventional route in to the BBC, around 25 applications and 4 gruelling (unsuccessful) interviews, before she finally secured a traineeship as a reporter in local radio.

Rabiya has spent the last 3 years at the BBC Asian Network, where she was part of a team that launched the very lively mid morning phone in.

Mark Sandell

Mark has spent 22 years in radio news as an average reporter, a pretty poor presenter before becoming a brilliant and charismatic editor.

Mark formerly edited the World Today on World Service Radio and before that was in charge of news programmes on Radio 5 Live and Radio 1 for the BBC, having joined the corporation from Capital Radio in London.

Mark has a long history of interactivity trying to make his views heard at Upton Park most Saturdays where he is a West Ham season ticket holder. He divides his spare time between being a real ale judge at the Great British Beer Festival and watching re-runs of the Simpsons.

Known as "Mark" to his friends, he is "Mr Sandell" to the rest of the WHYS team.