Ken Follett, Echo, reporter, BBC Wales, South Wales

Best-selling author Ken Follett, started out his career as a trainee reporter. Best selling author Ken Follett returned to his roots yesterday when he visited the Echo offices as he filmed a TV documentary. The Cardiff-born novelist, who has sold more than 130 million books worldwide, was a reporter at the Echo after leaving university more than 40 years ago. And yesterday he returned to the newsroom as he filmed a BBC Wales documentary charting what has inspired him as an author. The 63-year-old, who has topped bestseller charts all over the world, recounted meeting music royalty and dealing with angry readers as a young journalist in South Wales. After his family moved to London when he was 10, Mr Follett returned to the Welsh capital in September 1970 for a three-month graduate journalism course with Thomson Regional Newspapers. He joined the Echo in January 1971, cutting his teeth as a general news reporter. 27th, November, 1979.