• Can you tell me a bit about your background? Where did you spend your childhood?

I'm an English Romanichal from the south of England, but I spent my childhood mainly in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. I spent my childhood like many of my generation, growing up at a time when nomadic life was increasingly redundant and have lived in every kind of accommodation, from bender tents, to static mobile homes, caravans and council accommodation. At the time, more and more travelling Romani people were being forcibly settled on council caravan sites or being driven off the road by changing economics. I was born into a world radically different from my parents and grandparents, where our usefulness in the British countryside was diminishing and our presence no longer tolerated.

But like many of my 17 brother and sisters I was always raised to be extremely proud of who I was and know all about how my ancestors survived in a hostile environment after a 1000 year trek that started all the way back in India. And although few of us now live as our ancestors did, we didn't lose what we are the moment we moved into houses.

• Where were you educated?

I was educated all over the place, at home with the family, on the road with my dad and (when I was there,) at a secondary school in Rye, East Sussex. I have no higher education. Thankfully all a journalist needs is the ability to tell a story and the tenacity to sell it, and you learn both as a Gypsy.

• What languages do you speak?

I speak English, Anglo-Romani and Swedish (having travelled there for 3 years)

• What inspired you to become a journalist?

I was fed-up with the way Romani people were being totally misrepresented in the mainstream media and thought, "if you want something done properly, do it yourself." The media is guilty of spreading the most outrageous lies and stereotypes about us, it also perpetuates the conflicts that mainstream society has with us and in some cases actively incites racial hatred against us. But it is hardly suprising when there are so few Romani journalists on the inside to set the record straight. So I've made it a life mission to start setting that record straight. I've managed to earn a living doing so, but would say I've spectacularly failed to make much of a dent in the negative reporting that still blights us.

So I started writing articles for a magazine called The Big Issue and then went on to write for national broadsheets, and to work for BBC radio and recently TV. But there needs to be a Romani journalist in every newsroom for us to really start getting a balanced press, which is why I'm starting a Romani Radio station.

• I believe you lived in Sweden. Do Swedish Gypsies face the same problems as British Gypsy and Traveller communities?

I met a lot of Resande (Swedish travellers), Kaale (Finnish Romanies) and Vlach Romanies, and recent Roma refugees whilst travelling in Sweden. The Resande are very much like English Romanies in their ways and attitudes, but very few of them now travel. The other groups also share our heritage, but they too have been forcibly settled, and in some cases were sterilised by the Swedish state until very recently. What the Vlach Roma in particular have managed to retain is their language, music and dancing which is very beautiful. Each group has retained some of our common heritage, but none have it all. But we have all been persecuted for being who we are.

• When did you set up the Gypsy Media Company? What are the aims of this organisation?

I set it up in September 2003. The aim is simply to improve the representation of Gypsy people, whether that's in the arts, the media, heritage institutions, academic research or in the services provided to us. We are the only media production company in the UK owned for and by Gypsies themselves. We are a social enterprise based upon the principle that if you want to know the truth about a community you must ask the only real experts of that community: the community itself. Please see: www.thegypsymediacompany.co.uk

• You are hoping to start a British Romani radio station. Who are your intended audience, what language will you broadcast in, and what issues will you be looking at? When will it come on air?

The intended audience is primarily the Romani community in the UK which has no effective media of its own. But there will also be a secondary audience of gorgia (non-Gypsy) people, who are either interested in our plight and culture or those that simply stumble across the station. We will broadcast in English, but also use the station to increase the use of Anglo-Romani. We'll look at issues of community development, such as health, education and most importantly, access to secure accommodation, but we'll also look at softer subjects like culture, whether that's music, dance, arts or even comedy! It will initially be an internet station but will also be broadcast during short term Restrictive Service Licences in areas with big Gypsy populations or at Gypsy events such as horse fairs. It's a long process with a lot of groundwork enthusing volunteers and backers, but I'm getting there. I hope we start broadcasting in the Summer of 2006, but we are currently making a CD of pilot programmes.

• I'm particularly interested in your work with museums, promoting the much neglected contribution of the Romani community to British life. How have museums and their visitors reacted to this innovation? Do you envisage high profile museums like The British Museum following suit?

It's early days yet as we're still applying for funding to put the research I did at: www.surreycc.gov.uk/roadstoyourpast into action. I'm sure there will be some resistance within the heritage community as they are subject to the same kind of hysteria as anyone else. But there is also a fascination for the 'noble savage' image we have, and we've always been good at exploiting that to get our foot in the door.

There is an urgent need for our history and culture to be recognised and included with mainstream British heritage work. Because people's knowledge of the past has a direct impact on their perceptions of the present. I'm convinced that working with museums and libraries will have a real impact on how we are treated. If nothing else it will nail the myth that we are "invaders" of Britain's green and pleasant land, if for no other reason than that we were a crucial part of the rural economy long before those who now live in rural areas even saw their first hedgerow. And I won't stop making that point until there is a palatial, ornate Romani vardo (wagon) alongside every other national treasure in the British Museum.