Julia Llewellyn Smith (Modern and Medieval Languages 1987) estimates she has conducted over 4000 interviews during her career as a journalist, with her subjects including Tom Hanks, Jimmy Carter and Princess Anne. She has written for numerous broadsheets and tabloids, alongside penning a non-fiction book and seven novels — although, when it comes to writing, she does not identify so much with the latter. 

"Novel writing is a very lonely, very gruelling job," says Julia. “None of the authors I know enjoy what they do. An author friend of mine described it as like having eight children with all the pain, and you don’t even love them when they come out.” 

In 2026 alone, The Times has published Julia’s interviews with ex-Spice Girl Mel B, actor Alan Cumming and dynastic British media personality Brooklyn Beckham, to name a few. 

She says: “In the early days, I was more nervous, but now I’m very unimpressed by famous people and literally could not care less. I’ve met so many of them. I’m certainly not intimidated or influenced." 

Julia's composure in the face of celebrity eccentricity is revealed by her anecdotes. Once, whilst on a job in downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico, she was stranded in a warehouse for six hours without food or water. She had been due to interview music mogul Wyclef Jean (member of the disbanded hip-hop trio Fugees), who had been rehearsing there, but upon her arrival he refused to see her. 

She says: “It was a dangerous place to be. I ended up walking to McDonald’s and buying a burger and some water. It was the kind of place with guns everywhere, and as a young white woman you were very vulnerable.” 

Unphased and refreshed by a Big Mac, Julia returned to the warehouse, saw the reneged interviewee climbing into his Range Rover, and jumped right in beside him.

She says: "I was like, 'we're going to do the interview now'. He was like, 'I don't want to'. I was like 'I'm sorry, but I've come all this way'.

"So, we did the interview [published by The Telegraph in 2023] and he could not have been ruder. It ended up with him sticking his hand over my mouth and going, 'shut up now and let 'Clef sleep'. But it's great when this happens, because you're thinking, 'this is going to be a great story'." 

Julia tells another story about having to prematurely terminate an interview with a famous author after he showed up so inebriated he was entirely incoherent. 

Although such antics belong to a small minority, the quirks of her job are not lost on Julia. 

She says: “You’re often in very strange circumstances. You have to absorb a lot of information very quickly. These interviews can be commissioned at very short notice, 24-hours or less. So, then you have to find out everything about this person to ask the right questions. And then, of course, you have to go back and write it up in a way that’s entertaining and digestible. 

“It’s a specific skill set and, perhaps immodestly, I think not that many people can do it.” 

Julia's career started during her time as an undergraduate at Gonville & Caius with Varsity, where she became news editor. 

"I think I was pretty terrible," she says. "I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But it was just enough to put on my CV.” 

After Caius, Julia spent a year studying Journalism at City St George's in London, before moving into newspapers. 

She says: "When pursuing your career, that's when you really find yourself." 

Indeed, throughout her career, Julia has found herself in all sorts of places. Monte Carlo, for instance, where she conducted an interview with Roger Moore. 

She says: "I had this amazing hour with him, of which there is nothing to say except that he was just beyond lovely. He was my generation's James Bond, so he's my favourite Bond." 

But, despite these career highs, Julia is concerned for the future. 

"Journalism is in a lot of trouble and it really worries me," she says. "People no longer trust reputable news sources. They get their news from social media, and day by day AI content is increasing. It's very worrying people no longer want to pay for their news sources. They don’t understand how valuable good journalism is. I'm talking here more about news than the stuff I do. 

"You so often hear from people who really should know better that they don’t trust what they read in broadsheets or hear on the BBC. I can say assuredly as someone who has worked on broadsheets for their entire career and knows many people who work for the BBC, you are never going to find a more trusted news source than that. The amount of factchecking and balance that goes into everything we write or broadcast is unparalleled. 

“We are professionals and we really believe in telling the truth.”

When asked what she would say to a student considering a career in journalism, Julia certainly does not shy from the truth. 

“Think about it carefully. It’s badly paid, even at a high level,” she says. “But although you earn very little in cash, the experiences you have are priceless. 

“But what I’d also say is there’s always room for really good people. If you’re talented at communicating, have original ideas, work hard, don’t moan about long hours and being given menial tasks, and you think you’d enjoy it, it’s worth a shot.”