BBC R4 | The Angadi’s & BKS Iyengar’s first UK yoga class

23rd January 2026

In case you missed it, this Radio 4 programme tells the extraordinary story of the Angadi’s, who came to host BKS Iyengar’s first yoga class in the UK in their Finchley home.

In 1939, the English artist Patricia Fell-Clarke met Ayana Angadi, an Indian journalist and lecturer living in London. Despite strong family opposition, they married and, in 1946, founded the Asian Music Circle, an organisation dedicated to sharing the depth and richness of Indian culture in Britain through music and dance.

The Angadis’ suburban London home soon became an extraordinary meeting place for artists, musicians, and thinkers from across the world. It was here, in their living room, that B. K. S. Iyengar taught the first public Iyengar Yoga class in the UK, introducing a practice that would go on to transform the lives of countless practitioners across Britain and beyond.

Through the Asian Music Circle, the Angadis also played a pivotal role in bringing Indian classical music to Western audiences, hosting and supporting artists such as Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan, and helping to foster deep cultural exchange at a time when such connections were rare.

This is the story of a home where cultures met—and where Iyengar Yoga first took root in the UK, marking the beginning of a living tradition that continues to grow today.