Ali Lochhead

Writing is my passion and I'm mostly in my studio or in cafes scribbling away ♥ I'm writing a multimedia project exploring consciousness and also the unconscious, what I call the malignant ego; the compulsive, grasping mindset. I've journaled my own thoughts and experiences and I've taken the lovers path for the narrative as that was my own journey. I've also carried out extensive research, my web sites will house snippets of this work and a serve as prototypes for a series of novels and also a more detailed multi-dimensional web presence.

The spark for my project was ignited in my childhood. My English teacher at school, Colin McKay, gave me the confidence to go into journalism. I got my TV break on the oh-so-80's show Network 7



I went on to work as a News Anchor and Journalist for several UK news channels, B.B.C., I.T.N., and mainly Sky News, where I was also Technology Correspondent. My name was Ali Jack.



Jack was my stepfather's name and although I appreciated my stepfather I never really identified with him. Lochhead was my father's name. My dad died a few years ago and I was glad I had changed back.♥

I am proud of the work I did with Bono to highlight the issue of third world debt relief.



Meeting Nelson Mandela in South Africa and working with his foundation to highlight the helplessness of HIV/AIDS orphans, spending time with the children and with the people of Soweto and Orange Farm impacted me profoundly and in hindsight changed the direction I took in life. I was also privileged and honoured to meet and interview His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Prime Ministers Brown, Blair, Major and Thatcher, then President Clinton and Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan.



Although despite my commitment to honest news reporting,





it seems I am best remembered for getting a pie in my face!

In 18 years of journalism I met thousands of people. My dad said I was lucky. ♥

I met people who were homeless. Women who have been raped. Mothers whose children have been murdered. Abducted. Abused. I met paedophiles, rapists, murderers and murderesses. As well as meeting people who were dying of AIDS, I met people who were propagating HIV/AIDS for revenge. I've interviewed people who promote terror, as well as people who promote peace.

All of them touched me, some of them challenged me, but I gained a deep insight into the human condition, albeit it, at times, hard to fathom. My writings are an attempt to put everything I'd witnessed, all of these people's experiences into context.

A lot of people have supported me along the road. Thank you so much ♥ and mostly thanks to my wonderful children Laurel and Daniel. ♥ My guiding lights. ♥



When I'm not writing I'm learning the art of photography (both sides of the camera) and I enjoy drawing geometric and abstract concept art. I like to meditate, do a bit of yoga and I'm quite a footy fan. My love for life and my sense of adventure has got me into some scrapes and led to some great fun.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to contribute in any way you'd like. ♥

Much Love, Ali.♥

My cameraman was a bit nervous on the way to interview the british film director Michael Winner and when we walked into the bedroom in the London Ritz Hotel, where they were filming his latest movie and his concerns seemed to be justified.

"Who are you?" The movie man stormed.

I didn't know what to say or where to look. My eyes were tempted to wander to the actress Felicity Kendal who filming a scene in a bubble bath but the film director seemed to be demanding some attention.

"Don't you know who she is?" Chris Rea saved the day. "That's Ali Jack from Sky News!"

From then on in all went well, my cameraman managed to shoot at an angle that pleased Mr Winner and I was naturally thrilled and delighted to discover I had such an awesome fan. The singer had met Michael Winner on a beach in Barbados and landed the lead role in Parting Shots, which was to be his acting debut.

I thought they were maybe mucking around a bit when I got a call from my agent the next day saying they'd asked me to play the part of a TV newsreader in the movie but as I'd always wanted to appear in a film it was another dream come true.

I managed to smuggle my little sister onto the set and it was brilliant fun. We had our own trailer and every time I stepped outside a lad appeared with an umbrella as it was raining! I was in make up with Felicity Kendal and she was just as lovely as she looks. She did explain that in theatre you have to make big actions, in television less so and in movies less than that but it didn't sink in.

When it came to my turn I just did my usual thing, in television I'd been taught to be be animated, and i set about my task with great gusto and great enthusiasm, wiggling my head around from side to side as I read the script to camera.

The next day I was swapping notes with my colleague Bob Friend as he'd just appeared in Mission Impossible at the request of Tom Cruise.

"It's so difficult, isn't it?" Bob mused.

"What?" I asked

"Well to say small," he replied. "I mean on television if you raise an eyebrow it just moves a few centimetres but in cinema it leaps up about a foot in the air!"

I stared at him horrified. Oh why hadn't I had this conversation before filming?

Luckily, in the final edit, someone had the bright idea to cover up most of my section with a montage of newspaper cuttings!

As a young journalist I cut my teeth on Maggie Thatcher. The first time I went to meet her I was a junior radio reporter in Scotland. "What should I ask her?" I looked to my boss for guidance. "Oh you're not going to get a question in!" he explained, "Just point the mic in her general direction." Being a feisty 19 year old I ignored his advice, in the scrum around the Premier I shouted the first question and her eyes locked on to mine. She was a formidable opponent, she seemed not to blink but not to be out-stared I managed not to flinch and so we went on for question after question. The TV cameras zoomed in on us and my arm started shaking. I had to steady it with my left hand because my mic had a big company logo on it and I realised my nerves would be apparent to all on the tv news that evening. When I got back to the newsroom I told my boss what had happened. "What? You got the shakes?" he marvelled. "I could understand if it was David Bowie but not Maggie Thatcher."

Maggie and I were to cross words several times over the coming years as she was extremely unpopular in Scotland at the time. By the time the photo above was taken I was working in television in London. I was reading the news and Mrs Thatcher came to view the station. I knew as soon as she'd entered the building. No-one said anything in my ear-piece but I could sense the atmosphere had changed in the gallery, such was her energy. In contrast when I was interviewing Prime Minister John Major a few years later I was sitting in the lounge in the Oval Cricket ground making notes when I looked up and saw he was in front of me. I hadn't noticed him walk in. Perhaps that's an admirable quality. In the scene above I'm wearing a burgundy coloured suit, Mrs Thatcher said she liked it and said she could never wear such a colour as it wasn't blue. At that time she only ever wore the conservative party colour. I said I thought she could as it wasn't a true red and after that she did incorporate some burgandy into her wardrobe. I don't know if I influenced her but still, she seemed like an unlikely lady to be having a girlie conversation with!

I couldn't believe my luck when I landed my first tv job on Network 7. The first incarnation of youth tv it was a cult show which went out live on a Sunday morning. This was my debut, I'd been working on a completely different story all week and on the Friday my boss, Charlie, said he'd changed his mind, he wanted me to do a fresh report and I had to find 100 pairs of identical twins and get them into the studio. I actually cried and my friend Lisa, who's also on the clip send a courier to Harrods to buy a soft toy to cheer me up!

Photos


Shoot with Tim Barber for Airbnb
Location: London


Shoot with Jac Depczyk for Getty Images
Location: Marbella.




Shoot with Jac Depczyk for Getty Images
Location: London.


Shoot with Jac Depczyk for Getty Images
Location: Paris.




Artistic shoot with Jac Depczyk for Getty Images
Location: London studio.