RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT  -   If the spheres of religion, motoring and rambling op-ed columns were three sets in a journalistic Venn diagram, then their intersection would contain William Scholes.

He has the pleasures of writing about faith and cars for the Irish News, a blend of God and mammon likely to be unique in daily newspapers, perhaps for good reason.

He is possibly the only journalist to have reported from the funeral of Pope John Paul II, driven an electric BMW i3 at the Brands Hatch race track, a Ferrari round the Ards Peninsula and to have been in St Peter's Square for the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict and Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. He has held the coveted 'tidiest desk in the newsroom' title every year since joining the Irish News in 2002.