 Farrell studied English Language and Literature at Edinburgh University in Scotland before becoming a journalist on a London local newspaper, a news agency and then the now-defunct "Today" newspaper, for which he reported from Britain, Northern Ireland and the Balkans.After Today ceased publication in 1995 he joined "The Times", working as a news reporter on stories such as the Dunblane school massacre in Scotland, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Paris and the conflict in Kosovo.He became The Times’s South Asia correspondent in 2000, based in New Delhi and reporting from Afghanistan under Taliban rule, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.