In his time at the Standard, Valentine has covered war, flood, disaster, death and mayhem all over the world. He has also written about supermodels, poker, London cafés and Boris Johnson's bicycle. In the absence of international calamity - or a big breaking story about Kate Moss - he tends his allotment in East Acton, where he grows wonderful things like beans and leeks and purple sprouting broccoli, mainly for the benefit of the local pigeons and slugs.

His book of allotment tales, One Man and His Dig, will be published by Simon & Schuster in May.