Name: Private Lives. Part 2. | BBC Learning English.
Uploaded: 2026-02-26T12:55:24.000Z
Duration: 11 min 10 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

She lives with her three children in Huntingdonshire in the east of England.

Debbie is the chief reporter, the main reporter for a local newspaper.

Most places in Britain have free local newspapers which where you can read about what people are doing in the area.

We'll be hearing about people in Huntingdonshire as Debbie shows us a copy of the Hunts Post newspaper.

And we'll hear about Debbie's life, her interests, and

how she combines a successful career as a journalist with being a mother.

Debbie had her children before becoming a reporter.

Why was studying to be a journalist a difficult time for her?

Listen, I came into journalism quite late.

I'd sort of finally found something that I really wanted to do in life, but

My marriage had just split up at that time and so I had just moved house.

The house was a lot smaller than what we'd been used to.

There were three children sharing one room.

And I had an old battered Ford Fiesta as well, which was very unreliable.

And I would often go out in the mornings and it wouldn't start and sometimes I'd be late for college or I'd have to get the bus.

So it was a real struggle and I think I would have given up had it not been something that I really wanted to do.

Studying to be a journalist was a real struggle.

It was difficult for Debbie because it was just after she had split up, separated from her husband, and

because of this, she and her three young children were living in a much smaller house.

To make things worse, her car was unreliable.

Journalism was something she very much wanted to do and something she's good at.

She moved very quickly from being a junior reporter to becoming the chief reporter at the Hunts Post newspaper.

Life isn't such a struggle for Debbie now, but

the day begins early and she does a lot of things before she leaves the house.

Listen and try to catch some of the things she does.

I've just finished listening to the breakfast news.

I've listened to the local news to find out if there's anything which the paper needs to be covering.

I tend to make do with a piece of toast and a cup of tea.

I've already polished the coffee table in the living room and put the dust buster around and put some washing in the washing machine.

And I'm currently writing a shopping list.

I've got soap powder, washing up liquid and mints on the list.

She's writing down all the things she has to buy today.

She's already done some of the housework, polishing and dusting, cleaning and she's put some washing in the machine.

She's also listened to the news to check if there's anything the paper needs to cover to report.

Debbie is thinking about the day's work ahead and preparing her children for school.

Her youngest son, Russell, is 12 years old and goes to the local secondary school.

Debbie checks he has everything he needs, including his kit, his games, clothes for cricket.

Russell's just about to go to school, aren't you?

Well, looking at that weather out there, I don't think you'll be playing, will you?

Ok. Debbie gives Russell his dinner money and he leaves to catch the bus.

She then goes upstairs to say goodbye to Aaron, her middle son, who's preparing for important exams.

It's Wednesday and the Hunts Post newspaper is published on a Wednesday.

This means that Tuesday is Debbie's busiest day as a new edition of the paper has to be ready for printing.

So the first thing she does when she arrives at work is to tidy up to organise her desk again.

I'm at work now and my desk is very messy because I had a very busy Tuesday.

So normally the first thing I do on a Wednesday is to tidy up my desk.

I'm just going to put my computer on and start opening my mouth.

Next, Debbie shows us a copy of the Hunt's Post.

The front page story is one she's very proud of.

With the story, there's a large photograph of a local girl, Christina Hans.

She looks very similar to Diana, Princess of Wales.

She works as a Princess Diana lookalike, so she might be hired for things like parties or to appear in advertisements.

Cristina has made it to the front page because her job has made her as unhappy as the Princess is reported to have Been Christina, a single parent, has felt depressed, sad and unhappy and even suicidal.

Debbie talks about this front page story.

It was a good story because she's a 36 year old single mum and she said that her role as this Princess Dye look alike had made her depressed and suicidal and it really meant that her life had more or less ran along the same tracks as the Princess herself.

So this probably isn't a typical week's newspaper because of the front page story.

These sort of stories happen maybe two or three times a year.

You get a story that is of national and with this story, international interest.

A story like Christina's, which is of worldwide interest, doesn't happen often in Huntingdonshire.

Generally the stories are only of local interest.

Debbie knows from all the letters she receives that she is covering the right stories.

She explains that people want to read about local issues, local subjects and problems, and

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Private Lives. Part 2. | BBC Learning English.

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