It's totally mistaken to suppose that an armed escort is going to give a journalist any protection - on the contrary, journalists who turn up surrounded by armed personnel are just turning themselves into targets and in even worse danger.

I also read modern novels - I have just had to read 60 as I am one of the judges for the Orange Fiction Prize.

I wrote in the book very specifically what I wanted to write about, period, and left it at.

Hair is also a problem. I remember once, when I was reporting from Beirut at the height of the civil war, someone wrote in to the BBC complaining about my appearance.

It wasn't glamorous in my day. In the regions, reporters were seen as such low life that they didn't merit their name in the Radio Times. Now people are interested in being famous. I never gave it a thought.

In any war, there is a concealment of certain kinds of setbacks because it's propaganda for the enemy.

I never desired to go into war zones. I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job.