She did not like school, and left at the age of 16, taking a number of jobs for a year, before leaving to study for A levels at a local college of further education.
[3] During her time as an ITN reporter, she covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the return of the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, and the Brixton riots in 1981.
[4] Following her retirement from ITN in 1999, Barnes was a Dictionary Corner guest on the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown for the next couple of years, making 23 appearances on the programme until 2001.
Clare Barnes was born in 1979 and died in March 2004, aged 24, in a skydiving accident over Barwon Heads,[5] south-west[a] of Melbourne, Australia.
A keen golfer and one-time qualified private pilot, Barnes resided in Brighton, and became a local magistrate in 1999, until forced to stand down after being convicted of a drink-driving offence in 2004, shortly after her daughter's death.