Kirsty Lang worked for six months in the BBC newsroom in Belfast in the late 1980s.

During one of her first days on the job, a bomb exploded in the city centre. Lang threw herself under her desk. Colleagues told her the explosion was miles away.

Lang has said she hated the term "Troubles" and viewed the conflict as a war.

She read novels to understand the sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland. Lang said the experience helped her later when covering the collapse of Yugoslavia.

She described Northern Ireland as an exciting posting that journalists wanted to cover.

Lang later worked as a reporter in Hungary, Yugoslavia, Paris and other locations before returning to the BBC.

She now presents BBC Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz, which will mark its 80th anniversary next year.