Educated at Regent House Grammar School (from which he says he was "asked to leave") and Dundondald High School, his first break in journalism was as a trainee at the Newsletter newspaper in Northern Ireland.

BBC: From Dundonald to Match of the Day

The house, set in 12 acres of garden in Regent's Park, has served as an elegant soft-power asset for America in Britain since 1955.

ECONOMIST: The nicest house in London