Clare Balding talks to Sophie Farrah about TV, busyness and books...
When I speak to Clare Balding early one Monday morning, she sounds remarkably chipper for someone who has spent the previous evening at the glitzy BAFTA TV Awards.
“Well, it’s a beautiful morning in Chiswick,” she beams, ever the professional.
“And I made Phoebe Waller-Bridge (creator of Killing Eve and Fleabag) be my new best friend. So it was a great night!”
Clare Balding OBE may be one of Britain’s leading broadcasters, but a career on the small screen wasn’t always her unwavering aim. Born into a family of horse racing royalty, Clare herself was, for a time, a leading amateur flat jockey. Soon after reading English at Cambridge, however, she was offered a traineeship in the BBC Radio sports department.
“I was always interested in sport generally, not just racing,” she explains. “It’s the competition and the way that human minds, as well as talent, are tested. I love seeing how a team bonds together and how people react and respond to pressure situations.”
Response to pressure, of course, is something at which Clare is notably adept, due to the uncertain nature of the live broadcasts that she so often fronts.
“Sometimes things happen that you just have to deal with,” she says matter-of-factly.
“I love the unpredictable, and I like variety in life – which sport endlessly provides. The way my brain works means that I need a lot of stimulation; to be doing different things all the time.”
As a testament to this, Clare’s broadcasting back catalogue is seriously impressive. In 1997 she became the face of BBC racing and has since worked on dozens of major sporting events – including six Olympic Games, five Paralympics and five Winter Olympics – as well as several major royal occasions. She has contributed to Wimbledon coverage since 1995, hosted walking series Ramblings on Radio 4 since 1999 and presented Crufts for both BBC and Channel 4.
It’s a CV that has not gone unrewarded. Appointed an OBE in 2013, Clare won BAFTA’s Special Award that same year for her expert coverage of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And 2012 was also memorable for another reason: the moment that her presentation of The Boat Race was dramatically interrupted when a man jumped into the Thames at Chiswick.
“Whenever I look back at 2012, I always think: ‘What a year!’” she laughs.
Quite. Clare’s professionalism, moreover, extends far beyond her ability to hold things together. Whatever the event, she invariably displays near-encyclopaedic knowledge. This, of course, is due in part to her experience, but it also owes much to meticulous preparation.
“I’m quite old-fashioned and I have a different hardback book for each sport. I put all my tennis notes in the same one so that, when I get to Wimbledon, I can refer back to something that happened at, say, the WTA [Women’s Tennis Association} Tour Finals, or the Fed Cup. The same with cycling, swimming and so on.
“I’ve got good with family names too and I’ll always research beforehand. I think: ‘If this person wins, who is likely to be with them?’ Dog breeds are tricky though. And you can’t offend someone quickly enough if you get the breed of their dog wrong!”
Canine conundrums aside, Clare is also the best-selling and award-winning author of five books. Her memoir, My Animals and Other Family (2012), won Biography of the Year at the National Book Awards and was followed in 2014 by Walking Home.
Then there’s her popular trilogy of children’s books known as the Charlie Bass series, of which the final volume was published last month. Like its predecessors – The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop and The Racehorse Who Disappeared – The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance is a heart-warming tale of overcoming adversity and following your dreams, as seen through the eyes of Charlie Bass, her racehorse Noble Warrior and her best friend, Polly.
“My dad once trained a horse who was fantastic on the racecourse, but who just wouldn’t go on the gallops at home. She fell in love with my dad’s hunter who was called Quirk – a big fat furry thing! She would follow him everywhere. So that’s where the idea for the books came from.
“The latest story has a very strong theme concerning Polly, who was badly injured in book two. This one is really about her and what she still wants to do. She’ll have mobility issues and she’s going to have to learn to ride again in a different way. Having presented the Paralympics for a long time I wanted Polly to have a sporting dream, but the journey to that kind of goal is never straightforward.
“I’ve rewritten this book probably four or five times – I needed it to be right. I don’t want to churn out rubbish. It has to mean something and have genuinely believable characters, and I also wanted the women in it to be strong – and they are.”
As an ardent campaigner for better coverage of women’s sport, Clare is also deeply committed to promoting strong women far beyond the realm of popular fiction.
“I think 2019 will be the real gear change,” she muses. “This summer we’ve got the Women’s World Cup, the Netball World Cup and, of course, Wimbledon – basically two months of wall-to-wall amazing female athletes being championed on television, which is wonderful!
But for me it’s not just about coverage – it’s about making women’s sport feel fun and engaging for all age groups. I want girls to realise that being fit and healthy is a really aspirational thing and that if you progress through sport, you’re going to get way more opportunities in life.”
Rare time off is spent in Chiswick, where Clare has lived for 16 years with Alice – whom she married in 2015 – their beloved dog Archie and new kitten, Button.
“When Alice and I got together and I asked her to live with me, she said: ‘Yes, we can live anywhere you like, as long as it’s Chiswick!’
“We walk around the area a lot, and you get to know people. I like seeing the same faces and saying hello, and having a dog really helps to make that happen. We love going to Chiswick House, or down to the river, and Archie loves just walking around the streets – mainly because he likes finding food that people have abandoned!”
Nor is he the only foodie in the family.
“Alice and I love Villa di Geggiano, and Casa Dino is also very nice,” enthuses Clare. “And I love the outdoor courtyard at The Crown, especially in the summer.”
Not that there is much time for dining out at the moment, as Clare has been tasked with organising a very special celebrity and legends netball match for Comic Relief, to take place during the weekend of the Netball World Cup Final (July 20-21). Comedy legend Jennifer Saunders is booked to captain one star-studded team, whilst Strictly professional Oti Mabuse heads up the other.
“I am currently very busy recruiting two teams of fabulous women,” says Clare with evident passion. “That’s why I was absolutely determined to talk to Phoebe Waller-Bridge at the BAFTA Awards last night.
“It wasn’t only to tell her that I think she is brilliant, which she is, but also to ask if she plays netball!”
The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance is out now, published by Penguin, £12.99
