It is a quiet truth universally acknowledged in the news business: if you can chase down a story in Wokingham, you can chase it down anywhere.
For decades, the local press in our borough — traditionally anchored by the historic Wokingham Times before paving the way for Wokingham Today — has served as a fierce, uncompromising training ground.
To the untrained eye, our leafy market town might seem a world away from geopolitical hotspots, the glitz of New York, or the dense jungles of South America.
Yet, a look through our alumni reveals that Wokingham has quietly acted as the launchpad for some of the world’s most formidable media minds.
Here are five journalists who began their careers chasing scoops on Peach Street, only to take the world by storm.
Alex Crawford OBE: From trainee to the front lines of history
Before she was dodging sniper fire in Tripoli or reporting from a liberated Kherson, Alex Crawford was a trainee reporter at the Wokingham Times.
Working under the eagle-eyed mentorship of then-editor Adam McKinlay, Crawford completed her NCTJ qualifications right here in Berkshire.
She learned the fundamental rule of the trade in Wokingham: question everything, and never take “no” for an answer.
Today, as Sky News’ chief foreign correspondent, she is a five-time RTS Journalist of the Year, renowned globally for her fearless, empathetic reporting from the world’s most hostile war zones.
Phil Penman: Documenting the world through a lens
You might know his stark, critically acclaimed black-and-white street photography, or perhaps you’ve flipped through his bestselling books New York Street Diaries and Street Scenes.
But before Phil Penman was named a Leica Ambassador and immortalized the tragedy of 9/11 for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, he was chief photographer at the Wokingham Times.
Fresh out of Berkshire College of Art and Design in the mid-1990s, Penman’s first assignment was right here. He famously cut his teeth photographing everything from newborn babies and politicians to Berkshire sheep.
That frantic local pace served him well when he moved to the US, spending years documenting living legends like Michael Jackson and Madonna before transitioning to fine art.
Dan Collyns: Exposing the Amazon from Wokingham roots
If you have read harrowing investigative pieces in The Guardian or watched gripping environmental documentaries on the BBC regarding the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, you have seen Dan Collyns’ work.
Now an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Lima, Peru, Collyns is another proud Wokingham Times alumnus. Long before he was tracking illegal gold mining operations and risking his safety to expose environmental crimes in South America, he was building his reporting foundation by listening to the concerns of Wokingham Borough residents.
Adrian Bridge: The global storyteller
As a former foreign correspondent for The Independent who went on to become a senior travel writer and editor for The Telegraph, Adrian Bridge has seen more of the world than most.
Yet, Bridge has always proudly noted that his very first job in journalism was as a trainee reporter in Wokingham.
Covering council meetings, local magistrates’ courts, and community fêtes in Berkshire gave him the exact tools he needed to later report from major European capitals like Berlin and Budapest during eras of massive historical shift.
Janis Cleugh: A champion of community news across the Atlantic
Proving that the relentless local news ethic learned in Wokingham can cross oceans and transform communities, Janis Cleugh is an exceptional example of our hometown talent.
After cutting her teeth breaking vital local health and community scoops for the Wokingham Times in the 1990s, Cleugh returned to her native Canada.
She spent decades as a cornerstone of British Columbia’s local press, primarily with The Tri-City News.
When corporate closures threatened local storytelling across the region, Cleugh co-founded Freshet News — a pioneering non-profit journalist co-operative designed to save grassroots community reporting.
Her career serves as a powerful reminder that the fight for transparency and local accountability is a global mission.
Local newspapers are the lifeblood of the community, and as these five extraordinary careers prove, they are also the incubators of global truth.
The next time you see a reporter asking questions at a council meeting or photographing a local school fête, take note—you might just be looking at the next great chronicler of world history.
