Lorraine Braid

My name is Lorraine Braid. I have been a journalist since I left school a long time ago – apart from when I was raising four children and worked for a couple of years as a church secretary! I have covered just about everything – including horseracing and wrestling – but spent most of my news-gathering years reporting on the comings and goings of politicians. This included 11 years in the Press Gallery in Parliament spanning the 90′s. I retired in 2002 but am back in the news world again, this time translating and proof reading.

For reasons unbeknown to me I am passionate about Italy – the country, the lifestyle, the language, the people and, naturally, the food! I have made several trips to the country and spent time here and in Italy studying the language and the cuisine. A highlight was spending a month at language and cookery school in Siena in 2000. There is not much opportunity to practise my halting Italian, but the cooking is another matter – I revel in working out menus and then cooking them for my friends.

My other passion is music. No, I do not have a musical background, am not a musician nor can I read a note of music – which makes it all the more fascinating for me. I have been presenting Midday Concert on  Fridays, plus several stints of newsreading and various evening programmes, since February 2007 – and I simply love it! The research required for the specialist programmes presents a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about composers and their music.

Loraine presents “Midday Concert” on Fridays 12:00-13:00, “Klankpalet” on alternate Saturdays 19:00-20:00 and various “Composer of the Week” and “Great Interpreters” programmes.