Jonathan Charles – Q&A

Name?
Jonathan Charles

Age?
41

Where are you from?
Nottingham,England.

How did you get started in broadcasting?
I started out helping out at BBC Radio Nottingham before they kindly agreed that I could broadcast.

When was that?
That was 1980.

Why News broadcasting?
I grew up watching foreign correspondents on television and thought they travelled to some very interesting places to meet interesting people.

Where else would have viewers seen or heard you before?
I worked for BBC Radio Nottingham,WM and Oxford in the early 1980’s before becomiong a BBc national reporter in 1984.I worked at ITN in 1986 before returnning to the BBC to become a foreign correspondent based in New York,Paris,Brussels and Frankfurt.

What is your Best on-air moment?
Interviewing Nelson Mandela,at length,with half an hour’s notice.He has an amazing warmth.

What is your Worst on-air moment?
Almost being shot whilst live on the television news during the Beslan school siege in 2004.

What would you like to do before your career ends?
I’d like to travel to those countries that I haven’t yet seen.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I’m an avid reader and I love listening to music.I also run for half an hour every day.

What advice would you give to anyone that would like to get into the broadcasting world?
Don’t.It’s a very demanding job which is often poorly paid!

A big thanks to Jonathan for taking part.

Posted by on Thursday 21 May 2009
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