Allen is a reporter now, in part, because he was so determined to prove his school careers teacher wrong. Allen has been a familiar face to BBC South Today viewers since 1997, as one of the presenters of their award-winning early evening programme, and their various news bulletins throughout the week.
As a reporter, he’s fronted important news stories from every corner of their region, and far beyond. His skills as a self-filming, self-editing journalist led to Allen covering conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, natural disasters in Asia and Africa, and major sporting events in Europe and China.
Born and raised in Reading, he’s fiercely proud of his council-estate roots and comprehensive school education and a career that started as a trainee on his local, weekly newspaper.
