Rhubarb 2017

4 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

Journalism Alex Forrest-Whiting (B, 1990-1992)

You did well with your Politics A Level, and we shared a love for the subject. What have you done with your Politics since then? After St Edward’s, I read Politics at Bristol University. During my final year, I realised that I wanted to be a broadcast journalist. I did work experience at various radio stations in Bristol and Oxford and after graduating, went on to Cardiff University to do a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism. I was fortunate enough to become a BBC trainee, based in the South West. After two years of reporting and reading the news for both Radio Cornwall and Radio Devon, I ended up back in Oxfordshire working for ITV’s Central News. This was a great newsroom where I was able to present the news as well as report. I remember seeing you on theTV very regularly in this period – then you moved to theWestminster team, and the big time, and you were often in the thick of things. Yes, after being political correspondent for all three Central News programmes I was then asked by ITN to join their Westminster team. This was an exhilarating job and I covered all kinds of political stories. Thinking about it now, one of the things which prepared me for life in Westminster was being one of very few girls in a male environment at Teddies!

Alex is a freelance broadcaster and journalist, and has previously worked for the BBC and ITN. Rob Fletcher, Politics Teacher, interviews her about her career in journalism. Alex, I taught youA Level politics back in the early 1990s – you were Head Girl then – what recollections do you have of life in theTeddies Sixth Form in a period when the girls were still quite a new addition, and a distinct minority in the School? It seems odd now, but the girls were affiliated to boys’ houses to ensure we integrated. It still raises eyebrows when you explain to people that a girl’s study was in a boy’s bedroom! But it seemed to work and there was an unwritten rule, certainly in my year, that you didn’t have ‘relations’ with a boy you were sharing a study with. The girls were kept locked out

of the new girls’ house (Oakthorpe) until 9.45pm each night. Again, this was supposed to help with integration. I still can’t believe that we were allowed to go to the JCR and drink pints of beer before prep and then again afterwards. I’m grateful though that I knew how to both hold a pint and drink one without falling under the table. Essential for university life! Yes, I was Head Girl, which seemed pretty cool at the time although, rather like the monarchy, I don’t think I really had any power whatsoever. Was the school still emerging from a very traditional view of girls? Yes – that’s certainly true. You can see it in my favourite comment on an essay from my history teacher. It sums up so perfectly the prevailing attitude towards girls at Teddies at the time: “Alex’s geographical map of Europe, even giving allowances for being female, is semi-fictional.” Just brilliant! Sadly, he was in fact correct.

F E A T U R E S

Alex being interviwed on Danish television