Sally Magnusson dishes on King Charles III reporting the weather – and why she doesn’t miss Reporting Scotland following 27-year run

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If you ask Sally Magnusson what she misses most about leaving Reporting Scotland after 27 years – she stepped down six months ago – her long silence before answering speaks volumes. It’s almost more revealing than what she eventually says.

She admitted, “To be honest, I don’t really miss the job itself. I do miss the people I worked with, but we still stay in touch through a WhatsApp group and meet up sometimes.” It sounds like she enjoys the benefits without any of the responsibilities? “Exactly,” she said. “But of course, that also means I don’t get a paycheck anymore.”

Magnusson more than earned her keep throughout her career on programs like Reporting Scotland and Breakfast Time. She covered many difficult events, including the tragedies at Dunblane, Lockerbie, and Zeebrugge, as well as the funeral of Princess Diana and the Covid pandemic. She found covering Covid to be just as emotionally challenging as reporting on those other, more visually dramatic stories.

Don’t worry about RT potentially harming Magnusson’s chances of being honored – she actually received her MBE last year, in 2023.

Now retired at 70, she finally has time to focus on writing. Before this, she managed to write between working and raising five children—an impressive feat given the variety of her work. She’s written everything from a touching memoir about her mother’s dementia – where she carefully captured details like her mother’s smile and gestures, wanting to preserve those memories – to a children’s book called Horace and the Haggis Hunter, and even a surprisingly detailed book exploring the historical importance of urine in human culture.

Magnusson’s new novel, The Shapeshifter’s Daughter, explores the fundamental human need for stories. The book creatively retells the Norse myth of Hel, the queen of the underworld, while simultaneously following a modern woman who returns home after four decades to spend her final days. These two characters, separated by time and worlds, connect during a poignant winter, and through their interactions, both discover their true purpose. As Magnusson herself admits, she’s eager to revisit the story to ensure she’s captured it just right.

I’m really excited about this new novel – it’s going to be featured on Sara Cox’s Radio 2 Book Club, which is how I found out about it! It’s set in the Orkney Islands, and the author, Maggie Magnusson, describes them as being this incredible meeting point between Scotland and Iceland. She says it feels like home, and it totally makes sense why! She’s the daughter of a Scottish mom and Icelandic dad – and her dad was the original host of Mastermind, the amazing quiz show! It’s a place clearly steeped in Viking history and Norse culture, and you can feel that connection throughout the story.

She thought, looking back, that perhaps writing this book was somehow meant to be. She’d spent her childhood listening to her father read Icelandic sagas and the sound of his typewriter. His study was always filled with books and dictionaries as he worked on translating the ancient Norse stories. Those tales of gods like Odin, Thor, and Loki were deeply ingrained in her upbringing, thanks to her father’s extensive knowledge of them. In fact, his translations of the sagas are still considered the best available today.

My dad, Magnusson Senior, left me more than just a love of Norse myths. When he stepped down from hosting Mastermind in ’97, he was gifted that iconic black leather chair contestants sat in. After he passed away, it came to me. I didn’t want it gathering dust as some exhibit, so it’s actually in my living room! My husband uses it all the time – it’s closest to the TV, you see. Over the years, it got a little worn, so last October I brought it to The Repair Shop – you can catch the episode on iPlayer. They did an amazing job restoring it, but they were careful to not erase all the marks and imperfections. And honestly, I was thrilled! Those little knocks and scratches? They’re what give it character and tell its story, you know?

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2025-10-28 03:47