After failing my school exams with distinction, I had absolutely no idea which direction my life might take. A string of backstage jobs in London’s Theatreland eventually led me to Elstree Studios where I worked on Monty Python’s 'The Meaning of Life'.​​

 

From there, I zigzagged through a variety of jobs before finding myself at the iconic BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, working on 'Noel Edmonds’ Late, Late Breakfast Show' and 'Wogan' Next stop: Wembley Stadium, as part of the giant screen team for 'Queen: Live Magic'.​

 

A few years later, a chance encounter introduced me to what would become a lifelong passion: television news.

 

Cutting my teeth in and around the politics of Westminster, I secured a secondment to Central Television’s 'The Cook Report' before joining Sky News. Assignments took me to war-torn Bosnia and to South Africa, where I witnessed Nelson Mandela’s historic election victory at first hand.​

 

​At the Associated Press, I trained journalists and producers to shoot and edit their own footage, a pioneering move at the time. As a distraction, I was sent to sea aboard HMS Invincible to film Harrier jump jets in action.​​

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Then, in February 1997, came the move to Paris and the beginning of a two-decade love affair with France, its culture, its cuisine, its people. That chapter was defined, in part, by a tragic car accident in a tunnel in the early hours of August 31st.

 

The 1998 FIFA Football World Cup brought a unique party atmosphere to Paris, opening doors to interviews with presidents and world leaders.​​From there, things escalated in the only way they could: dodging David Bowie’s chewing gum, the Kosovo conflict, playing hide and seek with Ellen MacArthur, and breakfast with Lucius Malfoy …