An Oxford graduate in Modern History, I worked in the City of London for eight years, for accountants Coopers & Lybrand, merchant banks and stockbrokers before retraining as a journalist at Lancashire Polytechnic. I then became a professional journalist, working on newspapers in Lancashire.

I moved to the North East and was business editor on The Newcastle Journal for four years and business writer for three, with a year as features writer. While I worked for The Journal in the North East:

• I was four times named North East Business Journalist of the Year

• And won the national title for the BT Regional Press and Broadcast Awards in 1998

• Having been runner up the year before.

• Under my editorship The Journal was named Business Paper of the Year in 2001.

After leaving The Journal in 2002 I worked in PR in the North East but returned to writing in 2008. Since then, as a freelance journalist, I have spent two years editing North East Contact magazine and I have edited BQ2 magazine for five years. I have contributed features to regional and national publications on subjects ranging from business to showbusiness celebrity interviews. I also write business journalism - news and copy - for the daily morning e-news bulletin and website bqbreakfast, which I edit. I have also helped people in writing books on company histories and business advice.