In July, Raw Cut TV announced the appointment of David Hencke as the head of its current affairs unit. Hencke came to the prodco with a background in investigative journalism, having been the Westminster correspondent for The Guardian. Here Hencke tells realscreen a few things about himself others might not know, including how he could have had a closer relationship with birds had his life taken a different turn.

1. I could have been an ostrich farmer. My family emigrated to South Africa when I was four and we lived on my grandfather’s ostrich farm, but we returned to the UK a year later.
2. I went to the same comprehensive school as [Labour Party MP and former London Mayor] Ken Livingstone but was a young Tory at the time.
3. I became editor of my university paper at Warwick after being a student and member of staff for only a week – nobody else wanted to do it.