On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information.

Now children as young as nine carry AK47s which can kill 30 people in seconds.

I was timid and frightened as a child. Yours truly did not shin up mountains or do any other kind of adventurous stuff.

I was sent to a nice Church of England girls' school and at that time, after university, a woman was expected to become a teacher, a nurse or a missionary - prior to marriage.

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 have no time for the endless nostalgia: 'Oh gosh I used to . . . ' Life is too short; I don't have any time for sitting and saying I miss things. What's the point? Go and do something else.'

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.