About Me

Twitter: @tjoswain

My name is Tom, I'm 22, and I will one day be a motoring journalist.

Currently, however, I'm sowing the seeds. I'm a trainee NCTJ journo at Leeds Trinity University in Horsforth, Leeds, to qualify in November 2013.

I'm pretty clued up on modern motoring, having extensively read car mags since an early teen age. One anecdote I tell people is how I am always first to the doormat when the latest edition of Car magazine comes through the letter box - my dad has been a subscriber for many decades, but he's had to take a back seat on it this past decade.

I've had experience at evo magazine, which was fantastic, and have now become something of a fall-back for the motoring correspondent for the Wakefield Express. A fall-back in the sense that anything car-related she can't make, she has kindly offered to suggest it to me. An opportunity and a half.

I have also spent a few weeks at the Ilkley Gazette, a local paper part of a larger group. Again, excellent experience, and got a front page lead and a bunch of bylines during my time. Something else I'm extremely grateful for. I got a byline in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, too, when one of my stories in the Gazette was picked up. I was credited as a 'T&A Reporter' - thanks very much, T&A.

Another 'passion' (I hate that word) is consumer tech. I've been a subscriber to Stuff magazine for years, and adore it and what it does. T3 is pretty good too, better web stuff, but have always been a Stuff fanboy. I'd kill to work for them too.

Academically-speaking, I have a BA in English Studies from the University of Nottingham, which I'm relatively proud of.

I am particularly proud of my secondary education at Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, however - formative years in the fullest sense.

I have held a multitude of gainful employment positions, from Assistant Administrator (Office Junior) at Alexander King Associates Public Relations in Skipton, to jolly postman at the Royal Mail depot in Ilkley, and plenty in between.

I'm a pretty decent barman at the Craven Arms in Appletreewick, another thing I'm particularly proud of, and have additional experience in the 'hospitality trade' as a waiter at the Priest's House Restaurant in Barden - less proud of that.

I spent three months as a sales assistant at Next, a few months working the telephones for the University of Nottingham's alumni-dependent Annual Fund, as well as being voted into the position of Treasurer for the gigantic English Society at the University of Nottingham for the academic year 2010/11.

I also volunteered at Oxfam Books and Music in Beeston, Nottingham for a few months for a bit of soul-cleansing - it was good fun too.

Some other fun facts include...

I drive a slightly gold '04 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec which, before me, was owned by an elderly spanish couple. It's great.

I am a qualified member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, something I saw to just three months after passing my DSA tests. Extremely worthwhile, and my Fiesta bears an IAM sticker with pride.

I'm a long-standing (relatively) member of the National Trust - again, my Fiesta has a line of membership stickers in the front windscreen. My girlfriend and I consider visits to stately homes and castles a veritable hobby, and coffee shop-frequenting another.

The /Drive channel on YouTube is the single greatest thing to come of the internet ever, with MotorTrend's channel a close second - Chris Harris, Matt Farrah, Carlos Lago, Angus MacKenzie and Jessie Lang are all people I aspire to emulate.

I'm a Hull City supporter (fantastic news), as well as a closet Liverpool fan, unless they're doing well. I'm also a huge fan of Andy Murray and all he does, and enjoy a weekly game of indoor five-a-side football - the best iteration of the beautiful game.

I once owned a wonderful Ford Focus ST170 in black with all the bells and whistles, before I rolled it on the A65 to Ilkley in the small hours of the morning on my to a particularly early, pre-Christmas shift of posting. Black ice was the culprit, but I'm grateful to have walked away with only a small cut to my head.

Finally, I'm an enthusiastic, extremely amateur photographer who aspires to be an enthusiastic, extremely amateur photographer with professional kit.

Favourite publications include Autocar, Auto Express, Car, evo, What Car?, Stuff, T3, and The Craven Herald & Pioneer. Not an exhaustive list though.