The Geography Department and the Scholar’s Society hosted a lunchtime talk with Tom Wilson, Financial Times, titled: ‘A journalist’s tales from Africa’.
Tom is an award-winning journalist who has spent the last 15 years travelling through and reporting from many corners of Africa. In 2007 he travelled solo from Cape Town to Cairo. Then as a consultant he spent 7 years advising corporations and governments on political issues affecting everything from sprawling iron mines in the mountains of Guinea, to oil production in Angola and security in the Central African Republic. Since 2015 he has reported for Bloomberg News and now the Financial Times, initially from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Nairobi in Kenya and now from London. He’s visited plantations in Madagascar, a revolution in Sudan and ancient churches in Ethiopia. He’s uncovered corruption in Congo, exposed phone hacking in Rwanda, and almost overturned an election.
Tom presented an extremely fascinating talk, speaking to our pupils and staff about his incredible experiences and the various pathways into journalism. Our pupils were very engaged with his talk, asking insightful questions and providing great feedback on the talk.