Richard Gaisford is the Chief Correspondent on ITV 1’s flagship new programme ‘Daybreak’

Richard Gaisford joined GMTV as a Correspondent on February 14 2000 and was promoted to Chief Correspondent in January 2006.

Born on March 1 1972, and brought up in Tonbridge, Kent, Richard attended Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys before gaining a distinction in his Broadcast Journalism diploma at Falmouth College.

Richard's career in journalism began during the first Gulf War, when he worked at ITN on both radio and television newsdesks. He went on to work as a desk journalist at Sky News, and a reporter for Westcountry Television and the London Tonight programme. Richard was the first television reporter on the scene of the Docklands bomb.

Since joining GMTV Richard has covered many international stories, including the floods in Mozambique in 2000, the Paris Concorde crash and the sinking of the Kirsk submarine in Northern Russia. In March 2003 Richard went to the Middle East to report on the Gulf War. As part of an arrangement with the MOD, he worked not only for GMTV, but for all other British Networks and broadcast organisations around the world. Richard was 'embedded' with The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, a tank regiment supported by infantry. Richard's frontline reports from Iraq were seen daily on GMTV, BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Sky, CNN, Fox, ABC and NBC amongst others.

Richard reported on the Tsunami, the devastating earthquakes in Pakistan and the Pope's death for GMTV. More recently, he travelled to Beirut to cover the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. He also covered the happier story of England winning the rugby World Cup in Australia.

Aside from news reporting, Richard also acts as the expert on gadgets and new technology for GMTV. In 2006 he went to Tokyo to film a series of special reports on how technology is changing our lives and later in the year travelled to South Korea to highlight how gadgets are part of family life in this technologically advanced country. Since 2007, Richard has also covered the war in Iraq and filmed undercover reports in Zimbabwe.

Richard has filmed a number of series for GMTV including `Upsticks`, about Brits abroad, and the holiday series `Great Escapes`.

Richard lives in Hampshire with his wife Emma, son Charlie and daughter Amy. When not working, he enjoys walking with his family on the South Downs and spending time in the kitchen dreaming of becoming a chef.