Penn man

BBC reporter Richard Lister is leaving the bosom of BBC News, though wife Philippa Thomas is still engaged.

Richard took an extended degree in America Politics, based at Manchester University, with a spell at Penn State. There he also found time to host a weekly two hour comedy show on local NPR-based radio station WPSU.  I can find no audio.

This apparently was enough to qualify him for the BBC Local Radio Reporter scheme in 1988. After a couple of years, there followed various roles with the World Service in London, before a five year spell as State Department Correspondent in Washington. Then back to London as a reporter, before another three years in Washington, followed by a one-year course at Harvard. He's been London-based since 2011, and has recently found time for six months of studies on the "Writing a Novel" course run by Faber & Faber. We're told a thriller will emerge in due course.