Biographies

Reporter, BBC South Today

Caroline Richardson is a regular reporter for BBC South Today news and presents the regional programme's breakfast and lunchtime bulletins.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Caroline grew up in Birmingham before moving south in 1989 to study French and Politics at Reading University.

It was during her studies that she first considered a career in journalism after being told she wasn't diplomatic enough for a career in the diplomatic corps!

In 1993 Caroline joined the BBC as a researcher for a daytime TV chat show broadcast from the BBC's Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham.

While at Pebble Mill she enjoyed meeting celebrities but it was her admiration for the war correspondent, Martin Bell - invited on to the show after returning from Bosnia – that inspired her to take a career leap and study Broadcast Journalism at the London College of Printing.

After qualifying as a journalist, Caroline got a work experience placement at BBC Radio Stoke and "eventually persuaded them to give her a proper job" as a radio reporter and bulletin reader.

In 1997 she moved south once again, to join the team at BBC South Today where she continues to present and report on stories across the South region.

"The job is hectic and not remotely glamorous," she says. "When I'm standing in a muddy puddle in the New Forest using the cameraman's wing mirror to put on my lipstick, I wonder what the viewers would think if they could see me.

"I like to get stuck in though which is just as well – the producer once sent me to a ladies' boxing class in Gosport and I was lucky to escape intact!

"What I love most about my job is meeting new people. I've interviewed prime ministers, actors and Olympians, but the people who really stick in my mind are those who are just like the rest of us but have done something really courageous or amazing. It's a privilege to meet those people and I am frequently humbled by them."

Away from all the frantic news deadlines, Caroline finds sanctuary in her West Sussex garden where she now grows all her own fruit and vegetables.

"It makes me sound as though I'm very healthy and I do like to reminisce about the year I ran the Great South Run in Southsea," she says, "but that was in 2003 and I would struggle to run to my corner shop now!"