What was your first job as a journalist?
Writing a theatre review column for London local newspapers.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Learnt to type using old ribbon punch portable.
How is social media changing news?
News is much more of a two way communication flow between reporter and reader.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
JJ Hunsecker.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Knowing when and how to be an appropriate communicator, truth teller and entertainer. Not at the same time and not necessarily in that order.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Police follow cannabis dealer.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
By short email with promise of loads of money.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Laptop and voice recorder app.
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook. Love it or hate it, there's no denying it's radically changed news dissemination and story reach.
Who do you wish followed you?
The person in front of me in the queue for the last bus home.
Why did you become a journalist?
I like asking questions and finding answers.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Edited a title called Bronco named after the unpopular brand of cheap toilet used at St Stephen's junior school.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Researching the history of Victorian newspaper publisher and influential Christian Freemason George Philip Rigney Pulman. In the process I am proud to have restored hundreds of early editions of his newspapers to museums and archive centres.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Ask questions, publish answers. Always hold power to account, use a blog if need be.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Mornings, after coffee.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To write an audio script for actor Christopher Lee to read.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
To find out if Geri Halliwell had joined Scientology.
What's your favorite drink?
Starbucks coffee. Some people are snobby about it but it always does the trick for me.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Walking in the countryside.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Cornish & Devon Post.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
Regional news is sometimes misperceived as less significant than national news. I don't believe this is true. Local news is on your doorstep.
