Robert Orchard is a freelance British journalist and lecturer. One of three children born to a Devonshire farmer and a Welsh nurse, he was educated at a grammar school in mid-Devon and read Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, followed by a year's PGCE teacher training course. He edited BBC News Online's General Election coverage in 2001; and later compiled the BBC College of Journalism's first online Guide to Parliament, to help other BBC journalists understand how the Westminster Parliament works and how to report it.