Beginner’s Pluck: Fiona Barton

The daughter of a journalist, brought up in a house full of books, Fiona always loved writing.

She was senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at The Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The Mail on Sunday, winning The National Press Awards Reporter of the Year.

“I loved being at the centre of things, talking to different people.” In 2008, she gave all that up, and volunteered in Sri Lanka. Since then she has trained journalists in Burma, Africa, Eastern Europe and Tibet.