There was no equal pay law when I started working. I was no different to any other woman in any other job at the time.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

War zones are dangerous, protests can be violent, also, natural disasters are difficult to cover, so there are going to be risks.

People always seem to assume that we have a full, back-up support team - make-up, costume and a driver - but usually, in a war zone, there's only me and the cameraman.

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.

Beslan, where the Russian authorities stopped live coverage of the school being stormed, was an illustration of the progress we still have to make.

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