NEWSNIGHT journalist Katie Razzall has been confirmed as one of the first guests for a prestigious annual evening of fundraising.

The journalist will speak at the December 3 Spirit of Christmas event at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre for Muscular Dystrophy Campaign (MDC) research.

The evening of music and readings previously featured actors Dominic West, Tamsin Greig, Alison Steadman, Sophie Thompson and Miranda Richardson.

Tickets have gone on sale for the event, which will also feature classic Christmas songs by the Dragon School choir.

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The charity provides advice and fundraises for research into muscular dystrophy, where muscles weaken and waste, in some cases significantly shortening life expectancy.

North London’s Ms Razzall, 42, got involved with MDC after meeting filmmaker Jon Hastie, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Oxford Mail:

  • Katie Razzall

She became an ambassador for the charity in 2012 and will discuss her experiences further at the event.

The former Channel 4 News journalist said: “People with Duchenne used to not really live beyond their teens, but Jon had lived into his 30s, which was far beyond what he had ever expected.

“He made a documentary, called A Life Worth Living, which showed him meeting other people with muscular dystrophy and finding out what their quality of life was like.

“One man had lived into his 40s.

“It was very moving to work on, particularly when they were discussing how they wanted to die and how they have to think about that because it is coming.”

Ms Razzall studied French and Philosophy at Oxford University and covered disability issues during the London 2012 Paralympics.

The mother-of-two said: “We ran a series called No Go Britain, which showed what life was like for people with disabilities in Britain.

“It’s quite rare in journalism that you feel you have made a lasting change to something.

“You go into it and find, a lot of the time, that things don’t change.”

She added: “But because of No Go Britain there have been changes.

Oxford Mail:

  • Miranda Richardson

“We focused our coverage a lot on the transport system and our campaign really made operators like Transport for London think about how they were doing little things which make a difference.

“More broadly speaking, as well, it has been amazing to meet all those people whose voices are not heard. But they are a loud community. People just need to listen.”

She joined Newsnight earlier this year as a special correspondent.

Tickets are priced from £10 from musculardystrophy.org or call 020 7803 2856.

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