A BBC news presenter based in St Albans has visited pupils at a local secondary school, and given them a lesson in punctuation.

Martine Croxall gave a talk about communication and working in television to Years 12 and 13 students at St Albans Girls’ School, Sandridgebury Lane.

Having read the overnight news for the BBC since 1991, Martine was able to tell them about life behind the TV cameras, including how she coped with the difficult task of appearing emotionless while reading particularly distressing news.

Martine explained that she always read the news carefully before going on air to check if the punctuation was correct as its usage could completely change both the meaning of a statement and how you read it.

Year 13 pupil Niyati Oza said it was interesting to hear how an entire planned schedule of news had to be ditched when important stories broke while the team was on air.