Monty Halls: My Media

Newspapers Can I say I don't get the Guardian? Actually I do sometimes buy it for the rugby, but I'm a habitual Times buyer. And the Observer, on Sunday. The one paper I wouldn't buy out of principle is the Mail, because I know people who've been turned over by it, and it's sexist, vile, hateful and racist, the worst kind of journalism. Magazines BBC Wildlife and I'm a huge rugby nerd, so I live my unfulfilled rugby dreams through Rugby World. Occasionally I'll buy GQ, FHM or Wanderlust. Online . Not a great deal. I'm on Facebook and go on eBay a little, like everybody else, look at BBC news and sport, and use it for research – on diving sites, for instance. Television . I shall get myself into trouble but I'm a big fan of Channel 4 comedy – Black Books, Father Ted, Spaced, Peep Show. And some BBC comedies, like That Mitchell and Webb Look and The Thick of It. Obviously wildlife programmes, that's the flagship stuff, and news. I never watch soaps – I'm never at home long enough to keep in touch with them – but the one thing I've been hooked on is Masterchef. Radio A massive Radio 4 habit, it's the one thing I miss about Britain when I'm abroad. As well as things like The Archers, I even listen to the Afternoon Plays and Book at Bedtime. Advice for the next controller? Just plough on in the same direction. Books I've just read Chris Cleave's The Other Hand, a sensational novel about immigrants to Britain, which works on several levels. Normally I predictably go for adventure, travel and nature books, things such as The Old Man and the Sea and Ring of Bright Water. Even mountaineering books, although the idea of it terrifies me. Films . Recently Up in the Air, and my favourites include Papillon, Blade Runner, City of God, Apocalypse Now. Music . Very eclectic – friends sometimes despair when they find CDs by Chris de Burgh or Dido. Often rather melancholy sounds, like Elbow, Counting Crows. Monty Halls is a marine biologist and TV presenter. His latest programme, Monty Halls' Great Hebridean Escape, begins on Wednesday on BBC2