John Culkin remembers reading the news before the days of the autocue, and the many perils of presenting live

From being dropped into the South China Sea to reading public service announcements, his career has been far from boring

Love letters: My mother, Jean, met my father, Jack, just as he was going to war as a junior in the Royal Air Force. It was literally one night at a dance hall and then they wrote letters to each other. After the war they got married straight away.