Peter Henley – Q&A

Name?
Peter Henley

Age?
41

Where are you from?
Born in London, then Derbyshire, now living in the New Forest.

How did you get started in broadcasting?
I did the Radio training course at Falmouth school of Arts, then my First paying job was the now defunct Pennine Radio in Bradford.

When was that?
1987

Why News broadcasting?
When I left school I started work on a daily newspaper in Sheffield. I soon realised the graduates were getting ahead so I left to do a degree and fell into a student radio show at BBC Leicester.

Where else would have viewers seen or heard you before?
Radio 210 (before it was two-ten FM!) TVS – as the Thames Valley reporter, then Meridian TV

What is your Best on-air moment?
Reporting for the BBC Election night programmes was a real pinch yourself moment.

What is your Worst on-air moment?
Some of the technical challenges involved in the Politics Show OB where I present the South of England section, live every Sunday from a real-world location. They’ve ranged recently from Brighton dog track to a prison to an Extreme Sports festival on the Isle of Wight. Our team are fantastic and work really hard – but it’s done on a shoestring. Everything possible has gone wrong at some time and we manage to cover up most, but not all, of the problems. A memorable disaster was at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire when a cameraman slipped and broke the autocue on air, then a sudden downpour nearly drowned David Cameron as he tried to debate immigration.

What would you like to do before your career ends?
Keep my sense of humour and perspective.. There are too many grumpy, cynical old hacks around.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Family – I’ve got three young boys. Playing and watching cricket.

What advice would you give to anyone that would like to get into the broadcasting world?
It’s great fun, so don’t be put off. Develop your journalistic nose first – It’s only when you really understand what makes a good news story that you can start telling people about it.

A big thanks to Peter for taking part.”

Posted by on Thursday 21 May 2009
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