From late-night layouts to a lifelong career

A chance meeting at Coventry Station led Sheena Harvey (neé Taylor) to a successful 40-year career in journalism. Those early years on the University’s newsletter created incredible memories for Sheena (BA Comparative American Studies, 1977), and paved the way for decades of writing and editing on magazines found in homes all over the UK.

"I began my career in 1977 as a trainee sub-editor with Thomson Magazines in London, working on Family Circle – a popular monthly women’s magazine in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. It took me three years to qualify as a journalist with on-the-job training and a short course at the London College of Printing."

Olympics memories of the BBC

Keith Warrender (BSc Engineering Science, 1976) tells the story of how he helped to bring the Olympics to UK TV screens as the BBC's core tech team for London, Rio, and Tokyo.

"I studied Engineering Science from 1973 to 1976 and went on to have a career in broadcast engineering, which has taken me to many varied places. But I kept coming back to the UK."

The results of a Warwick 'run in'

From never running a long-distance race in his life to becoming New York’s fastest runner in his age group, David Hill (BSc Mathematics, 1978) discovered a brand-new hobby that he didn't expect to excel at. This was all thanks to a catch up meeting and drink with a fellow Warwick alum and friend, Piers.

"I was 58 when I ran my first long-distance race. A drink with a friend, Piers Keenleyside, who I’d met at Warwick and who was visiting me in New York for the marathon, put the idea into my head. He told me he’d run 26 marathons in the prior year. It made me think, ‘If he could do that, how difficult could one be?’, so I signed up and ran the Central Park Half."