Prince Charming

Royal visits are always interesting occasions for me, mainly because they are rarely quite what they seem.

If you watch the output of all the TV channels closely, you will probably notice that some of the footage is the same. That's because just one camera is usually allowed to follow the bulk of the visit.

We take this in turns. So we may do one visit, the next time it will be the BBC and then Sky the time after that. That material is then shared with the other news organisations. But seldom do the reporters get chance to actually follow the royal visitor around.

And so it was today, when Prince William had his first official engagement in Liverpool. He was opening a new intra-operative MRI scanner at Alder Hey.

While HRH and a few dignitaries toured the wards, we were stuck outside waiting in the cold. Only when he was gone could we start filming inside and interview some of the young patients who Prince William had met.

One of the other rules about covering such occasions is that we are not allowed to eavesdrop on chats the prince may have. So imagine my delight when, on leaving, he came over and had a full conversation with the woman standing next to our camera.

This one bit of banter about the noise his helicopter makes over Anglesey turned what could have been a fairly dry report into something much more human. It showed his endearing personality rather than showing him simply as a well-suited VIP.

But the icing on the cake for me was the final shot. I wanted to record my piece-to-camera as the prince was driven away.

For a start, it is a tricky thing to gauge the timing right. Even if you do, you only get one shot to get your words right!

Thankfully I was in luck on both counts and received a third unexpected piece of luck. Prince William waved directly at our camera as he left.

I have covered many royal visits, including those of his dad and nan, but I have never seen a member of the royal family appear in such a down-to-earth manner. It certainly didn't harm his popularity with his admirers, and made a great report.

Back To The Future

1984 was my favourite year. Or at least I remember thinking that it was at the time.

The reason? The International Garden Festival.

It was possibly the most exciting thing that had happened in the eight years of my little life. After all, it had a real-life Blue Peter ship and the Yellow Submarine.

The festival was supposed to mark the start of a bright new future for Liverpool. Sadly, for the site at least, it didn't quite work out that way.

Bar a brief spell playing laser games at Pleasure Island back in the early 90s, I haven't returned to the gardens in the last 26 years.

So it was an extremely eerie feeling to walk around the Japanese and Chinese gardens this morning.

Now all overgrown, they are barely recognisable but I am excited to report that the gardens are finally being renovated and should be open next year.

The Blue Peter ship may be no more, but I hope the gardens will soon be able to bring about the same level of excitement to people for many generations to come.

Record Breaker!

I became a record breaker today, thanks to a pair of maracas and some 400 enthusiastic children from St Helens.

Teachers were looking for a way to involve the pupils at Blackbrook St Mary's Primary School in music lessons when they came up with an easy answer. Get them to play all at once.

It was this playing, with a little help from a few handy adults like me, that got the children into the record books.

Apparently each and every member of the team gets their name in the Guinness Book, so I'll probably be buying every single copy when the next one comes out.

Great fun and a great school. Thanks for inviting us along!

Quest For Justice Continues

About a decade ago, I went for a job interview. I was asked what I thought was the most important story on Merseyside. I answered Hillsborough.

The interviewer, a prominent Manchester-based media boss, looked at me incredulously. We had a long debate about why she thought the story would never see the light of day again and why I thought she was wrong.

My argument was that the story would keep rearing its ugly head until the families of the 96 got justice for what happened. And by justice, I think I really mean a full understanding about what happened. I concede that those responsible may never pay for their actions.

Well here we are, 10 years on from that interview and 21 years on from Hillsborough, and the story is still very much around for the very reasons that I argued.

I would rather not be here, still talking about it. I would rather all of those involved could be getting on with living their lives. But there are still many questions left unanswered.

I have every faith that the Bishop of Liverpool will do an impeccable job in his role heading an independent panel on the tragedy.

They will all have to sift through hundreds of thousands of archived documents to try to get those answers and they have at least two years to do so.

I'm sure that the families would prefer they take as long as they need rather than rush towards their conclusions.

It does mean of course that the story may well be on your TV screens well into this new decade. But I, for one, make no apologies for that.

The Past Is Orange

They say Liverpool is the tanning capital of the UK. I must admit that I've certainly seen some unnaturally orange people walking through Liverpool One from time to time.

Well today I met a young lady who at one point was going on the sunbeds every day.

Megan Carey, a normally fair-skinned dancer, started tanning when she was just 13. She got a big shock when she was taken to a dermatologist and told she had 99% skin damage.

Megan had been filming with Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts and a crew from BBC Three for a programme all about tanning.

You can see why the researchers chose her.

She has a very enthusiastic way of talking to you and was really awestruck by the journey she had been on.

I'm convinced she won't turn back to using sunbeds again - and she was mature enough to expect her friends to make their own minds about tanning.

Antelope At My Ankles

If you look very closely at my trouser legs, you may notice a little bit of damage just above my right foot.

It was caused, as no doubt you have already guessed, by a tiny antelope.

We were in Chester Zoo today, covering the story of Khola. She's a gorgeous little thing, abandoned by her mum a few weeks ago in the bad weather.

So the story goes that the keepers have had to hand-rear her. They're even taking her home every evening to look after her over night.

She's still only tiny, so I had an uphill struggle trying to gain her trust so that I could film next to her. In the end she was so comfortable that she started nibbling my trouser leg.

I may not get the sewing kit out yet, just in case anyone asks.

Meeting Micro-Angelo

Once in a while this job introduces you to people who are truly unique. I met one of those people today at the Hard Day's Night Hotel.

Willard Wigan is an artist with a difference. Everything he creates is on a minuscule scale.

Thankfully for us Willard is a big Beatles fan. He's already recreated a tiny Yellow Submarine with incredible detail. Now he has unveiled his latest work: a bust of John Lennon which fits into the eye of a needle.

His work is truly incredible - so much so that some people doubt his work is genuine!

I could have spoken to Willard for hours. I think he would have gladly obliged too. His story is fascinating.

He explained to me all about how he sculpted the head from a grain of sand, using a shard of diamond as the chisel, an eyelash as a paintbrush and a sliver of gold to construct his tiny glasses.

The exhibition features other works including the second Alice In Wonderland. (He inhaled the first one by accident.)

If you get chance to pop in to the hotel's gallery, it is well worth the visit. Microscopes and magnifying glasses are supplied!