Who's Who

Kaija Larke

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KAIJA'S PROFILE

At 12 Kaija wanted to join the RAF as a fighter pilot, but her Mum told her she'd never hack the discipline…so she set her sights on being a war reporter instead.

She caught the journalism bug working for her local newspaper at 14. After University she moved around the UK cutting her teeth at various companies including the Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, ITN and Setanta. She has covered everything from sport and entertainment to politics and crime and co-hosted the Children In Need show from RAF Brize Norton in 2005.

During her stint in Entertainment reporting, Kaija was invited to join Enrique Iglesias at Stringfellows, turned down Justin Timberlake, spent a morning with Kylie Minogue and gate-crashed a party hosted by Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. But the highlight for her was meeting her teenage crush – Matt Goss from Bros!

Kaija’s daredevil streak occasionally gets her in to tricky situations and has seen her parachuting with the Red Devils live on-air, filming out of helicopters in Helmand and having a go at most extreme sports including white-water rafting and paragliding. After freaking out about turning 30, Kaija toured Vietnam on her own with a rucksack and a motorbike for company most of the way.

After more than two years of freelancing for BFBS, Kaija joined the team full-time in early 2009, clocking up trips to Kenya, California, France and Afghanistan in her first year. Her stint as Afghanistan reporter (working alongside Claire Sadler) saw her travelling around Helmand, reporting on the work of British troops in Musa Qala, Sangin, Nad e-Ali, Kandahar and Lashkar Ghar. One of her most ‘memorable moments’ in theatre came just after Operation Moshtarak when she found herself sleeping on the floor of a patrol base of a hundred Afghan, French and British soldiers. She spent the night flanked by two soldiers and with only one cold shower and one toilet between all of them. Whoever said this job is glamorous?!

In her spare time she avoids housework, loves travelling, and relaxes with wine, kick-boxing and gardening... sometimes in that order.

Kaija fulfilled her childhood ambition in January 2010 when she was posted to Afghanistan but is still waiting to fulfill her other life-long dream, of flying in a Tornado GR4.

You can email Kaija: forcesnews@bfbs.com

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