Presenter Anita Rani chats fashion and music with Nabihah Iqbal

Fresh from covering the King’s coronation with the BBC last weekend, Rani sat down with Brighton Festival’s guest director, Nabihah Iqbal, at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts.

The pair had a brilliant chemistry from the off and were relaxed in our and each other’s company as Rani got straight into speaking about the weekend.

We heard about how she wore a sari and Doc Marten’s to the coronation as she interviewed people on The Mall, evoking memories of growing up in Bradford in the Eighties.

And it was while she was a child in the north of England that Rani’s deep love for music began to develop.

The pair on stage (Image: Brighton Festival)

READ MORE: Brighton's new music festival The Great Escape returns for huge week

Putting her ear to the wall to hear the records her neighbours were playing, sat with her uncle who sneakily gave her cigarettes while the pair listened to music together, and discovering DJ Shadow and Rage Against the Machine as a teenager – all the stories we were told were an absolute treat and told with such passion.

Other highlights of the evening came at hearing how Rani would watch Top of the Pops as a child and wish she was “inside the TV screen”, and that The Smiths had played a huge part in her childhood but due to singer Morrissey’s current political views the band were shunned from the playlist we were treated to.

Music is a sheer joy for Anita Rani, in fact she says it saved her life, and if you ever get chance to speak with her about it, then do. An inspiring and uplifting evening all round.