Family on the box

I have just come back from an all expenses paid weekend in Rome courtesy of Italian TV channel RAI 3 who flew me out to take part in the travel programme Alle Falde del Kilimangiaro. RAI is the Italian equivalent of the BBC, and RAI 3 is one of the three main Italian TV channels - not one of Berlusconi's I hasten to add!
There is a link to the programme below, and I feature about third of the way through - use the highlights bar on the right to jump to the exact spot.  I look a bit like a rabbit caught in headlights as it was rather distracting to cope with a brace of interpreters - Marco relaying presenter Licia Colo's questions in English via my earpiece, and Michaela loudly translating my answers into Italian over the studio sound system while I was in the process of talking.

 http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-c23ad139-7584-41cb-a5a8-52f76a1659f2.html

As you can see, I got the full make-up treatment which was a new experience.  I was flown out British Airways and put up for two nights in a lovely hotel by the Tiber - it also gave me the chance to do a little sight-seeing, but more of that later.

It seems to be a media packed week for the family, as Iona and her 'butterfly wings' (as her harps were described in a recent article  http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/laura-mvula-tabernacle--music-review-8520465.html ) will be supporting Laura Mvula on Comic Relief's Big Chat with Graham Norton.  Watch out for them on BBC3 on Thursday evening.
Just noticed you can see a ghostly Ions behind Laura in the photo from the article above.