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Last Modified: 20 Nov 2006
By: Channel 4 News

Read an extract from the Observer Magazine on our own star-destined Nima El Bagir.

'I read the worst books - I get upset if boy and girl don't end up together.'
Nima El Bagir

Nima El Bagir always wanted to be a journalist. 'My father has a newspaper in Sudan and my mother was the first female publisher in Sudanese history, so I come from rather an intense family,' she says.

The 28-year-old graduated from the London School of Economics before training in her father's newsroom. 'I didn't have an easy ride or the guts to ask for special treatment.'

She's not afraid of being alone in war zones. 'Being fluent culturally makes it easier for me to move around the Middle East.'

After a stint at Reuters, she moved to More4 last year. Will Thorne, senior programme editor at Channel 4 News, says, 'Her depth of knowledge in foreign affairs gives her work credibility and insight.'

She's now been nominated for an Amnesty Award for Human Rights Journalism and for Broadcast Journalist of the Year. 'I was given the only interview with Jacob Zuma, deputy president of the ANC, in the run-up to his rape trial.'

When she's not working, she'll be in Selfridges' beauty hall or reading trashy novels.

'I read the worst books - I get upset if boy and girl don't end up together.'