1. You started running at a young age, joining a running club in Primary 6. How did you initially get involved in sports?
Winning sports day at primary school encouraged my parents to suggest I go along for a trial with the local running club, Edinburgh Southern Harriers (now City of Edinburgh).
2. How did you balance practice and competitions with academics?
It took a great deal of discipline and dedication, allied to supportive parents who did all the driving. Balancing homework, training and other extra-curricular activities was always a challenge.
3. When you were deciding where to attend university, what things did you consider?
My main consideration was moving away from home. Not that I didn’t have a fantastic home environment and parents, quite the contrary. I did, however, see University as a chance to spread my wings and experience a new city and a new challenge. As an Edinburgh boy born and bred, I therefore didn’t even consider my native city’s fine university and applied to Cambridge and St Andrews.
4. How did your time at Stewart’s Melville prepare you for the challenges at Cambridge and beyond?
In all honesty, I don’t think any school can quite prepare a student for the huge step up to university level. It’s something every individual needs to adjust to at their own pace. What StewMel did for me, however, particularly my form and house heads John Robertson and Nan Howe – and headmaster Robin Morgan – was to emphasise that what higher learning establishments are particularly interested in is a rounded individual. Someone who’s got a wide variety of interests outside the academic sphere. They also wisely suggested that I emphasise my strengths and try to camouflage any weaknesses.  For example, I wasn’t back then – and am still not – an avid reader but John Robertson politely suggested I might want to speak more about what I had read than what I hadn’t!
5. You Initially wanted to pursue sport after university; however, after your time at the Oklahoma University, you contracted glandular fever, which had a huge impact on your ability to run at a high level. How did this reshape your sense of identity and long-term goals?
No effect on my sense of identity – I wouldn’t let one thing define me. What it did do was make future athletics success unlikely, meaning the need for a backup plan even more pressing!  I still tried to continue with a serious athletics career for several years after coming back from the States while also working part-time as a freelance journalist to pay the bills.
6. Your back-up plan was always a post-graduate degree in journalism. How did you decide on this area?Â
My line of thinking had always been; try to make it as a full-time athlete. If you can’t, sports journalism wouldn’t be a bad second prize.  So, I made sure I had a journalism qualification (a post-grad diploma in Journalism Studies from the Centre for Journalism Studies at Cardiff University) in case I needed it one day
7. Can you speak about your early career?
My early career was between 1994-98 when I was still training full-time and picking up freelance work at BBC Scotland, either as a producer, interviewer or sports reporter.
8. During your first year at the BBC, you spent some time on a traineeship in Bristol. What lessons from this experience do you think are most valuable for young professionals today?
The course took great care to try to mould journalists in the ‘BBC way’, stressing balance, impartiality and fairness. Some legal training was provided, as were style guides regarding writing for television and writing for radio.
9. You have had myriad professional highlights – can you speak about the joys and challenges of covering such events as the Olympics, cup finals, and Commonwealth Games?
The joys are many and varied.  Travelling to new countries, working at iconic sporting locations, interviewing, commentating on and reporting on some of the best sports men and women in the world, stadiums packed full of noisy, passionate fans.  The kind of thing you would do for nothing.  I’m blessed to earn a living doing it. The challenges are trying to make sure you do it all justice; convey to the listener, viewer or reader the greatness you’ve just witnessed; the passion you’ve just encountered; the unexpected drama that’s unfolded in front of your very eyes. Just as challenging? Doing it live or with extremely tight deadlines, when you only have one shot at it and are faced with a live microphone and/or a live camera.
10. More recently, you covered Andy Murray. How did covering Andy Murray differ in terms of preparation compared to global events like the Olympics?
The difference between the Andy Murray portfolio and the Olympics would be that for one, you need in depth knowledge about one person and his career; for the latter, you need a working knowledge of a broad range of sports and personalities.  Preparation would be key to success in both fields.  I had never met Andy Murray, never mind covered his career, when I took on the tennis portfolio. It was a steep learning curve involving much research and plenty of learning on the job. That was also a prime example of how things were changing in the media landscape; where once there might have been a team of 3 or 4 people doing that job, I was a one-man-band with laptop, camera, tripod and radio equipment filing for the website, TV, radio and sometimes doing live commentary as well.
11. Looking back, do you think your early sports discipline gave you an edge in journalism? If so, how?
The edge would probably be an understanding of the amount of work and training it takes to be successful in professional, or indeed amateur, sport. I got to a certain level in athletics (1min 48 seconds for 800m, for example). Good but not great. So, when I see athletes running 1minute 45 seconds (and often very much quicker), you have an instant grasp of all the work that went into creating that performance or that athlete. That translates across all sports, whether it’s football, rugby, tennis, golf, or gymnastics. There’s also a great amount of discipline in training for big events – even training just to get to a certain level. A certain routine you have to follow; eat right, sleep right, train right, compete hard. This all helps with the mindset you need to be a successful journalist where similar traits of discipline and determination are required.
12. For some of our younger readers, what advice would you give for pupils who are leaving or pupils who have left in recent years?
The best advice I can give is to find out what you love, find out what you’re good at and when the two intersect, throw yourself into it with as much passion and determination as you can.
If it was advice specific to journalism, it would be fairly similar. It’s a broad church, so if you have a certain specialism or a certain area that motivates or inspires you (politics, education, the environment, sport) then move in those circles, talk to people, find out what’s really going on.  If you’re trying to break into the industry, volunteer, try to get work experience, conduct your own interviews.  For example, when I wanted to apply to the Centre for Journalism Studies in Cardiff, they wanted an example of my work. I didn’t really have much to offer, as I wasn’t a student journalist at Cambridge. I was too busy with studying and athletics.  But I happened to see that the then Prime Minister John Major’s private personal secretary was speaking at a debate in town. So, I got on my bike with a tape recorder and a microphone and blagged an impromptu interview with him.  I used that as a sample of my work; managed to get onto the course at Cardiff; that led to a traineeship with BBC Scotland.  And here I am over 30 years later….
