Day Trip!!! - To London's Al Jazeera Studios

Well first of all this blog needs to start with a thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever read this blog as the reason I was able to visit Al Jazeera, was on the basis that my blog had reached a ridiculously high Alexa Ranking for a student blog and there had been a bit of a competition amongst the class to try and a) topple me from the top of the rankings and b) win the competition and claim the glory. If you're unaware of Alexa Rankings it may be worth giving my earlier blogs on SEO a look, here and here.

So the day itself started with an early morning journey with fellow journo George Berridge, who was so close to my ranking in the blog competition it almost didn't matter that I won (it totally did matter). We felt like we were commuting, I remember turning to George in our fancy shirts and ties and going, "Somehow this feels like we're proper journalists." And in some way we were, commuting to London for our day at a professional television studio, covering the FA Cup final. Even stopping for a coffee because we were too early to head to the studios made me feel like I was a working journalist. It's the little things I guess. Once we arrived we were still a little bit early, some would call it over eager, I'd say punctual, (and I'd be lying). We waited outside for a little while, wondering at the building when up pulls the shiniest black generic luxury vehicle you have ever seen. It actually seemed to glide. Who should step out of it then but our University lecturer and star of Al Jazeera's English speaking sports coverage but Angus Scott. Suffice to say we were pretty impressed but it only got better from there.

We wander over to the entrance, looking like the lost teenagers we are, walk up to the desk and in our manliest tones pronounce, "We're here to see Angus Scott", (autographs are signed, ladies swoon, lives are made). Unfortunately the man on the desk rather scuppers this by asking us questions, "Who are you here to see again?" "Erm Angus Scott" I squeak. "Al Jazeera" George adds helpfully, we may never have got any further if it wasn't for that. The security man says "OK." Takes our names and tells us to wait for someone to come and collect us, (there's a brief issue where George has the name tag Jorge - "Oh... sorry, I'm Spanish." Fair enough I thought. Jorge is much cooler anyway.) Soon a lovely lady comes downstairs and takes us, two rabbits caught in the headlights, up to the Al Jazeera offices. We could not be more nervous at this point and it's probably due to the nice words of this lady that I didn't break down and cry at some point (probably somewhere between the tour, and being smiled at by one of the star guests). We arrive in the office, wide eyed at just the idea of being in the building. Angus welcomes us and introduces us to the editor who is very accommodating, considering he's about to put out the coverage of the biggest game in English domestic cup football, but I guess you learn to deal with the pressure.

Midway through our tour Angus vaguely points in the direction of the guests green room saying, "Well today we've got Terry in and also Robbie and Tim." This is how nonchalant you get with experience in the business; he's talking about Ex-England and Spurs manager Terry Venables, Ex-Spurs player Tim Sherwood and Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler. My mind was blown even more when I sneaked a look in and Terry Venables smiled and waved at me (probably more so because I'm a Spurs fan). So what we did next was sit, in shock and awe, reading through the script for that afternoon. As we tried to figure out the more complex elements of it we decided to go on a little walk of our own, hoping we'd somehow be able to get the courage to say hello to the guests or walk into the studio. We realised we wouldn't be able to do this when we bumped into Terry Venables leaving the make-up room who said, "Alright lads!" The shock of being called a lad by Terry Venables nearly killed me. As George will tell you I spent most of the next half an hour reminding him what just happened although he was almost as awestruck as me, and he's not even really into football. True story. Finally though, we built up the courage to enter the studio and by all that is holy it was amazing. No disrespect to the equipment we have (it's the best a student could ask for, industry standard) but the backing of billionaire oil barons helps in areas like this. The set was so professional, the cameras were huge, the lighting expansive, everything was just bigger and that little bit better than anything I'd seen before.

The preparations for the programme were over, suddenly Angus and Co. were on air and we were sitting in on a professional at work, just doing his day job (which happens to be a pretty damn cool one for the record). We were there on the floor for every second of the broadcast and a massive thank you goes out to the floor manager and his crew for accommodating us and even bringing us headsets so we could hear the frantic work in the gallery as VTs were chopped, changed and thrown around to fit in with the chat from Angus and his guests. It was amazing to see and hear the studio at work and really gave me a sense of what working on WINOL this year will be like. Surprisingly it didn't scare me too much, it just made me more excited for what's ahead of me on the course and hopefully I'm up to the challenge.

During the first half of the match, we suddenly realised we were hungry and hadn't eaten all day, we'd actually been surviving on adrenaline more than anything else. We were taken down to the canteen where we suddenly realised that they also film QI and This Morning in the building. Practically buzzing at the very possible idea that Stephen Fry could wander in whilst we sit there chowing down on a baguette. After a sneaky look at a huge studio downstairs with seats for an audience as well, we headed back upstairs to rejoin the action in the studio.

The rest of the day went smoothly as well as we chatted to other staff in their green room, tried not to look too awestruck at the guests and dreaded the inevitable end of the day. The game ended, (Manchester City 1 - 0 Stoke City. If it hadn't been for the visit and I was just watching the game at home, I'd have had a shocker of a day) and we had to head home. Angus walked us to the door and then glided away in his shiny black car of awesomeness as we headed for the train. The noodles at one of the food stands in Waterloo station are godly. End blog.

Until Next Time. Stay Classy Internet.

P.S. One final thank you to my University and Angus for making the whole trip possible, it was, as you might be able to tell, an absolutely amazing day in my eyes. Also a thank you to George for helping me to calm down after a brief encounter with Terry Venables. You can see George's blog here he's overtaken me by some ridiculous amount now due to slacking on my part. I shall return.