A much travelled academic researcher who values the Guardian's overseas coverage, she can only get hold of the paper every other day because of where she lives
A cutting from 17 January 1961 (on the death of physicist Erwin Schrödinger), tells me I must have been reading the Guardian for over 50 years. I started while working in a botany lab in London; we read our newspapers while waiting for results from experiments. My academic research life has let me travel the world, as well as raise two children. The Guardian has always kept me abreast of current affairs, but its overseas coverage has made it stand out from most other papers and kept me informed of the countries I've visited.
As I live more than three miles from the nearest shop, I collect the paper every other day (my newsagent always keeps a copy back for me), so I'm always reading it a day late. But I appreciate its broad coverage, stimulating articles and left-leaning attitude which can still allow expression of opposing views (I'm sad to see more "gossip" now, especially in G2). I read the paper back to front, often starting with the letters and obituaries and then editorials and comment, which I find the most interesting. Over the years I've noticed the paper grow in size and now shrink again. I enjoyed pulling out sections and discarding those I was less interested in, but I know you have to adapt to change.