Find out more about Daybreak's New York correspondent - Lucy Watson.
The demands of being a Daybreak reporter and the diversity of stories the programme covers, means that over the course of 18 months I have broadcast live from New York's Times Square after US terror plots were uncovered, filmed just five metres from grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains, reported on the death of Colonel Gaddafi, been to Northern Ireland to report on the country's water shortages.....and filmed with a dog from Yorkshire who only understands French!
My TV career started as a runner on Stars in Your Eyes, then a researcher on You've Been Framed and 60 Minute Makeover before realising that journalism was where her heart was, and at the age of 25 went back to university!
After dalliances with the university newspaper and hospital radio, my broadcasting career began in earnest at BBC Radio Merseyside, then Real Radio in Manchester as a young and intrepid reporter covering major stories such as the murders of Rhys Jones and Jesse James. After just 6 months in radio I started my television reporting at ITV Granada in Manchester, then in 2008 moved to Birmingham to work for ITV Central to report/present news bulletins, the weekend and late news, and also the main evening programme. I then worked on attachment for ITN, and joined Daybreak when the programme launched in September 2010 as North of England Correspondent.
In 2008, I won the Guardian Media Group's Journalist of the Year Award, and was nominated for a Sony Radio Award for an investigation I carried out into gun crime. I have since reported from the States on the Mid Term Elections in November 2010, travelled across Canada for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Royal Visit in 2011 and recently got the first television interview with a soldier who was out in Basra at the time of Iraqi hotel worker Baha Mousa's death.
In 2009, I interviewed the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown just days before he was ousted from Number 10.....but my favourite chats have been with Noel Gallagher, Sir Stirling Moss and Jonathan Ross!
1. What do you most enjoy about working on Daybreak?
Working as a journalist for a programme like Daybreak gives you opportunities in life you can't buy - travelling to unusual destinations, chatting to people who've done extraordinary things out of love, necessity or instinct and experiencing ground breaking events first hand. The free Starbucks machine in the canteen isn't bad either (other brands of coffee are of course available!!!!!)
2. Who would you most like to meet/interview that you haven't already?
The Queen - oh, to have a cup of tea with Ma'am and a proper chat about how she really feels about her family, her life and the historic events she's lived through!
3. Who is the most memorable celebrity/personality you have ever met and why?
I absolutely loved interviewing Sir Stirling Moss because he was a proper gent who talked so openly. So often these days answers you really want you can't get because celebs are prepped, primed and very guarded. It's refreshing to chat to a star in the true sense of the word who is just plain honest. Noel Gallagher was another goody, for the same reason - brutal honesty!
4. If you weren't a journalist, what would you be doing as a job?
I'd be reading the news to myself quietly in a darkened room, hoping someone was listening.
5. Are you a good morning person?
You can't be anything else in this job! I'm at my perkiest first thing but love to chat any time. I quite like being up when other people aren't and driving across the country at ridiculous o'clock when the roads are empty. You get to see the odd great sunrise too! Every cloud!
6. Who would you choose to play you in a film version of your life?
Eddie Murphy - we've got similar loud laughs!
7. Is there one fact about yourself that we'd be surprised to learn?
I can't wink with my left eye, and any attempt to means I have to contort my face and end up looking like Popeye. To be honest, I'm not even any good at winking with my right eye, but it does vaguely look like a wink so is a real achievement for me, and it's only been possible in the last 5 years!
8. What is your routine for working early each day?
Working for Daybreak from NYC there is absolutely NO routine. Sometimes I'm live in New York from 1am as the programme airs in the UK, having filmed all day, written scripts and edited overnight!! On a more 'normal' day I'll get up at 7am US time to check out all their news channels and their papers for stories and go out filming in the afternoon/evening. Then, perhaps live again that evening/following morning. If you like sleep this is the wrong job, but then it is New York and this city never sleeps!