“After failing my school exams with distinction, I hadn’t a clue as to what I was going to do with my life. Via London’s Theatreland, a trail of breadcrumbs led me to Elstree Studios to work on 'Monty Python's Meaning of Life’. Next, I landed a job in video projection and became a regular contractor at the iconic BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane, working on Noel Edmonds' 'Late, Late Breakfast Show'. This, somehow, led me to Wembley Stadium as part of the team operating the giant TV screen on 'Queen - Live Magic’.

A few years later, a chance meeting introduced me to a passion that was to dominate the next 3 decades: television news. Starting in the political world of Westminster, I was seconded to join Central TV's 'Cook Report' and onwards to Sky News, who sent me to war-torn Bosnia, and South Africa, where I witnessed Nelson Mandela’s historic election victory.

 

The Associated Press (AP) packed me off to sea to join the crew of HMS Invincible to play with Harrier jump jets, then reassigned me to Paris where I began a meaningful two-decade love affair with the French, their culture, their food and their women ... and it all started with the death of a princess.

 

The 1998 FIFA World Cup came to town, bringing its unique party atmosphere. There followed interviews with presidents and world leaders, then out to Kosovo, dodging David Bowie’s chewing gum, all at sea with Ellen MacArthur and breakfast with Lucius Malfoy ...”