Lorraine Kelly has revealed that she loved her career as a frontline reporter before becoming a daytime TV star. The 66-year-old grandmother of one began her career covering major news stories, including the Lockerbie disaster and the Dunblane massacre.
From News Frontline to Studio Sofa
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Lorraine admitted she preferred being out in the field to presenting from a studio. She said: "I did love that. I was Scottish correspondent for TV-am, and I covered massive stories. You know, like Lockerbie, and there were a lot of prison riots at that time, and the awful Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea."
She added: "I was very young when I was covering those things, and then obviously went into presenting, but again reported on things like Dunblane. I have gone back to Lockerbie and Dunblane to do documentaries, and I really enjoyed doing that."
Variety of Her Current Role
Her current role hosting her own chat show five days a week is very different, but Lorraine relishes the variety it brings. She said: "It's really good to get the opportunity to do so many different things. You're able to do hard news, really hard news, and then also to do interviews with A-listers, which is great."
She continued: "Or the thing that I love to do is just talking to people about their experiences. The one thing that I'll always remember, when I look back on my career, is that it's great to do all these wonderful things, but it's people who have trusted me with their story."
Lorraine added: "Maybe people who have gone through horrific times and come out the other end, and they've trusted me with their story. That's very, very special and something that I don't take for granted. Because for them to do that is huge."
Family Recipe for Posterity
Lorraine has also shared her grandmother's Dundee cake recipe as part of the launch of The National Book of Bakes, which invited people across Britain to submit treasured family recipes and the stories behind them. The recipes were brought together in a book, with those whose bakes were selected getting the chance to meet Lorraine at a launch event.
She said: "We honestly didn't know what to expect, and we sort of put it out there and said, 'Well, you know, maybe let's just see what happens'. We got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who sent us their precious, precious pieces of paper written on backs of old envelopes, written in jotters and all of that."
She added: "The whole idea was really to save these things for posterity, and we've now got this collated book, and it's all been printed out by the HP Smart Tank, which is great. It just shows you there's still a place for printing things out because I like to hold things in my hands. I find it wonderful that I can download my boarding pass for the plane on my phone, but I don't trust it. I want the paper bit in case my battery goes or something awful."
