The interview from Hell - Part 1

I was told that it would last a whole day and that lunch would be provided. Little did I know what I had let myself in for.

I had been invited to an interview for a coveted place on the newspaper course of an institution considered to be journalism’s equivalent of Oxbridge.

A place on this course can lead to a job at the Guardian or the BBC.

Its name on your CV is like a password into the journalists' brotherhood and you will be welcomed in with open arms. I am sure they even have secret handshake.

The interview was like a one-day reporting boot camp: only the fittest would survive and the rest would have their dreams trounced under foot.

Following an introductory talk they thrust us onto the streets to test our nous for news.

We had to find and write up a story. Our deadline was the end of the day. It was then that I wished I had worn flats.

I was suspiciously scanning around for fellow recruits who might poach a potential story when I came across two women tidying up what seemed to be a unfinished adventure playground.

I had found my story. It turns out they were working on a new recreation zone for disadvantaged kids in the area.

I wrote down the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How (okay, maybe I wasn’t quite at that stage just yet but I answered most of them) and some other details before returning to base camp.

After lunch came the current affairs test. I managed to answer the one about the Daily Express apologising for suggesting friends of Gerry and Kate McCann may have misled authorities who were investigating the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine McCann.

I was also given a list of names and asked to write down which newspapers they edited.

Thanks to Wikpedia I can now say:

Alan Rusbridger – The Guardian
John Mulholland – The Observer
Roger Alton – The Independent
John Mullin – The Independent on Sunday
Will Lewis – The Daily Telegraph
Ian MacGregor – The Sunday Telegraph
Lionel Barber – The FT
James Harding – The Times
John Witherow – The Sunday Times
Peter Hill – Daily Express
Martin Townsend – Sunday Express
Paul Dacre – Daily Mail
Peter Wright - Mail on Sunday
Dominic Mohan – The Sun
Richard Wallace – Daily Mirror
Richard Wallace – Sunday Mirror
Dawn Neesom – Daily Star
Pam McVitie – Daily Sport
Bill Benfield – The Morning Star
Lloyd Embley – The People
Nick Appleyard – Sunday Sport
Colin Myler – News of the World