Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be on the BBC Breakfast sofa, discussing one of your favourite topics?  I found out last week when opportunity knocked on my door … here is the story of my BBC sofa experience.

The call from BBC Breakfast’s producer came at lunchtime on Friday.  The government is planning, not without controversy, to abolish the calculator paper in the Year 6 SATs.  Would I like to come on BBC Breakfast and give my expert opinion?

My response was an enthusiastic yes: the plans worry me because they appear to be based on the notion that calculators make everything easy.  They disregard the fact that children take three maths papers in Year 6: mental, ‘pen and paper’ and the (set to be abolished from 2014) calculator paper.  So there is already a balance.  Furthermore, the calculator can open up mathematical horizons and encourage children to explore numbers.  But I digress.

The BBC’s car (alright, it was a mini-cab) came to pick me up at 8am on Saturday morning.  On arrival at the BBC Studios in Salford Quays, I was given a visitor’s badge and then a runner, Hatty, came to meet me and take me upstairs in the lift.  The BBC lifts are reassuringly bossy: you press the button and are then told which of the eight lifts you have to get into.

After a walk through open plan (and largely deserted) offices, we arrived at the green room, which, I’m sure you’d like to know, wasn’t green at all.  I’ve always pictured ‘the green room’ as the colour of snooker table baize, but it was a fairly small, window lined room with comfy chairs, the day’s papers and tables full of fruit, pastries, juice and coffee.  I’d barely had time to start on the Guardian before Hatty took me up to make up.

The make up room was a small and windowless with one of those great mirrors that have lightbulbs all the way round.  The make up artist was so lovely, I’m sure they are chosen in part for their ability to keep their ‘patients’ calm!  Duly plastered in MAC foundation and with hair subdued by industrial strength straightening irons, I was led, by Hatty, to the studio.

After a quick chat with the floor manager, who was really calm and reassuring,  I was led to the famous sofa and introduced to Louise and Charlie.  It was fascinating to see how incredibly pressurised their jobs are: they spend every minute between segments preparing for the next topic and reading tweets and comments on the BBC website.

The discussion started with Maggie Philbin, the former presenter of Tomorrow’s World who now runs Teentech.  I was pleased that Maggie’s opinions tallied with my own – she’s a force to be reckoned with.  When it was my turn to take the floor, I’m pleased to say I acquitted myself well, but it was all over very quickly.  A Youtube link will follow (when I work out how!).

Hatty took me back downstairs in the bossy lift and led me to a waiting cab which sped me back to Urmston by 9.20, bringing the whole experience in at an efficient 80 minutes.  Everyone at the Beeb was professional but welcoming and it was so interesting to catch a brief glimpse of how this giant institution works.  BBC Breakfast’s producer tweeted me later to say they may well have me back on in the future, so watch this space – and the sofa.