I’VE been hearing for a long time now that the director of Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones’s Baby, is a former Aberystwyth University student.

For years I’ve tried to track Sharon Maguire down and I thought I had finally got the chance to interview her in 2013, when the university made her an Honorary Fellow. Alas, it was not meant to be. Sharon couldn’t make the ceremony and I had no luck contacting her.

With Bridget Jones’s Baby out in cinemas now, my motivation to interview her was renewed and, as with everything in the movie business, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know...

Sharon is indeed a former Aberystwyth student, as am I, although we did not study there at the same time. However, one of my university friends, Matt Moss, works for Universal Pictures now, which just happens to be one of the film companies behind Bridget Jones. Thanks to Matt, I had secured my interview at last!

In preparation, I did some research (a quick read of Sharon’s Wikipedia page I’m ashamed to say...) which reveals that not only did Sharon study at Aberystwyth, she was also born there.

I open with that and there’s a slight pause on the phone...

Then Sharon laughs and says: “My Wikipedia page is wrong... Someone should change that. That someone should probably be me... But no, I’m not from Aberystwyth. My parents are Irish and I’m from Coventry, but I did study there!”

See this week’s south editions for the full feature, in shops and online on Wednesday