Katie Derham

"Look, there's Pete Doherty!" "Who?" asked the impossibly handsome french student driving me through the Marais in a 2CV. "You know, pop star, Kate Moss's ex, very naughty boy.. and he's waving at us. Oh. He's waving at the car ... "

Just one of the home truths broadcaster Katie Derham has learned while presenting Traveller's Tree for Radio 4. Others include the realisation that there are still English communists nostalgic for holidays in Albania, and really rather large numbers of listeners who want to swim naked in the rivers of West Yorkshire.

Katie's sensible day job is reading the news for ITN. She ended up behind that particular desk via a childhood spent in Wilmslow, spiritual home of all footballers' wives, an occasional Economics lecture at Cambridge, heady days working with Vincent Duggleby at Money Box Live, and interviewing film stars when Barry Norman wanted a day off from his film show.

She's often to be found lurking around the Royal Albert Hall, waiting for a Classical Brit or a Prom to present, and enthusiastically, though not always effectively, learned to wave a baton for BBC2's Maestro.