It's always a lovely feeling when an author selects you to be the voice of his or her baby as it is launched upon the world. So, as a lover of local news everywhere, it was a particular pleasure for me when Alex Morrison, a former local journalist, asked me to read his new book There's Someone In Reception, now available in hard copy and, if you want to hear me read it, on Audible (I've included a clip of me reading it in the audio clips section of the website.). The title has sent shivers down the spine of every journalist who has bought the book so far. It is the inevitable opening remark made by receptionists in local newspaper offices when phoning journalists to inform them that someone has just walked in off the street with - they think - "a story." The journalist then has to make the nerve-wracking journey to reception, not knowing whether they are going to meet a bore, an idiot, a nutcase, or somebody with a genuinely amazing scoop.
The book is a medley, gleaned from contributors all over the world, of some of the most memorable stories that were waiting there in reception. Many of the stories are hilariously funny - indeed I had to stop recording more than once because I was laughing so much - but many are harrowing, or sad, or occasionally deeply touching. The book is a love letter to local journalism everywhere, and also a passionate argument for its continuing importance in the world today.
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