As soon as I walked into my first newsroom, I knew I was hooked for life. The variety of assignments on a local newspaper - from obituaries to theatre reviews to murders - made the thought of a 9-5 office job intolerable and an English Literature degree at Cambridge left me with a thirst for words.

After a year at the Surrey Daily Advertiser I went to the BBC as a journalist trainee, one of a small band of graduates afforded a superb education in all aspects of reporting and production. We played at making programmes in the basement of Broadcasting House and were sent to the regions, where grizzled news editors delighted in taking us down a peg or two.

I have worked for BBC Two and Channel 4's Dispatches and written articles for the Independent and Guardian newspapers but radio, with its immediacy and intimacy, remains my first love.

Recent Radio 4 series I have presented include The Pariah Profession (Sony Silver, Best News Programme of the Year, 2004) and In Seven Days. Award-winning reports for File on 4 cover issues such as abuses within the prison system, child psychiatric services, Aids drugs trials in Uganda, debt-relief in Tanzania and child-slavery in West Africa.

When not behind a microphone, I like to whiz round the Hampshire countryside on my bicycle, go to plays, films and exhibitions and, above all, enjoy the company of my family and friends.