Journalism students will get the chance to quiz BBC sports presenter John Inverdale later this month, when he pays a visit to the University of Lincoln.

The former regional press journalist, who began his career at the Lincolnshire Echo, will offer advice on how to become a good sports journalist during a lecture at the Brayford Pool campus on March 24.

Now well-known for his coverage of sporting events including Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, the football and rugby World Cups and The World's Strongest Man, he got his foot in the journalism door as a reporter on the Echo - but not before applying for 280 local newspaper jobs around the country.

In 1982 he moved to BBC Radio Lincolnshire before taking up a trainee attachment in the sports department of BBC Radio 2 in 1985.

From 1988 to 1994 he worked for BBC Radio Five Live as the presenter of its flagship sports programme Sport On 5, and he is now a regular presenter of Five Live's Wednesday night soccer coverage and television's Grandstand.

John's lecture is part of the Journalists Speak Out on Journalism series organised by the university.

Previous speakers have included award-winning reporter Yvonne Ridley and Eastern Daily Press journalist Mark Nicholls who discussed the media distortion of the war in Iraq.

Yvonne was famously captured by the Taliban in 2001 after secretly entering the country on an assignment for the Sunday Express, while Mark was embedded with the military during the Iraq invasion.

Award-winning investigative journalist Tessa Mayes also gave a lecture earlier this month, exploring the professional and ethical issues facing undercover reporters.

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