9 minute read
Clare Balding
I don’t know how she does it!
A woman of many talents, Clare Balding tells Susannah Warren about her crazy broadcasting schedule, her new novel for children and why she is passionate about promoting women’s sport
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It’s exhausting just thinking about her schedule. And that’s not all of her commitments by any means, so just imagine when it’s an Olympic year. How on earth does she do it? “There’s a lot of other stuff that I don’t do. My sister-in-law will rustle up dinner for 20 people Clare Balding is just as you would expect her to be: warm, articulate, intelligent, inspiring. Most reassuring, though, is how down to earth the broadcaster and best-selling author remains despite the accolades that without blinking – that would give me a heart attack. I don’t have kids. Alice [Arnold, her wife] plans our holidays. I’m pretty focused on what I do.” Focused, or a workaholic, perhaps? “Yes, it is a danger, ” she admits. “But I recognise it and pull back from it.” The buzz of live coverage is hard to pass up, she admits: “I do love the energy and performance of live TV and radio, bringing a sporting event to life… trying to make people care about a race they’ve never have been heaped upon her: OBE, BAFTA Special watched before and they don’t know who half the
Award, Royal Television Society’s Presenter of swimmers, cyclists or whoever are.” the Year Award, Racing As the daughter of former
Journalist of the Year, to name but a few. “I don’t need “THINK LESS racehorse trainer Ian Balding, sport was in her blood. “The freshly born kittens and lilies. ABOUT WHAT whole family was into it and it
I don’t even need a dressing room. I go and change in the OTHER PEOPLE was on TV all the time.” She did endless competitive riding loo if needs be.” It is this lack of THINK AND MORE in the holidays and played a lot of lacrosse at Downe House, entitlement, along with her ABOUT WHO YOU where she was head girl. Sport unerring professionalism, that has won over the hearts WANT TO BE” is, she insists, hugely important to schoolchildren’s confidence. of pretty much the entire “When you’re really nation and made her the go-to presenter for so many struggling and feeling that you’re failing at of the sporting calendar’s biggest events. something, it’s really good for showing you how to
When we meet she has just finished fronting pick yourself up – not just how to succeed, but how
Crufts, is in the middle of filming a Channel 4 to work in a team, how to react when someone else documentary, When Football Banned Women, which wins, how to get fit, to recover.” tells the story of the globally feted Dick Kerr ladies It is also, she says, a valuable reminder that life’s and explains how the 50-year ban (1921-1971) came “not all about being size zero and stick thin”. It’s a about. Then she’s onto the Boat Race, the America’s theme she deals with in The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t
Cup (“something totally new for me to learn”), Gallop, which tells the heartwarming story of a
Wimbledon, swiftly followed by the European horse-mad 10-year-old girl, Charlie Bass, who has
Women’s Football Championships in Holland, big thighs and even bigger dreams. ›› which she is also presenting for the first time. In amongst all this, she has her ongoing Radio 4 series,
Ramblings, and is also in the throes of writing her second novel for children, a sequel to her hugely popular witty debut, The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t
Gallop. Due out in October, it has, she tips us off, a
“certain Shergar theme to it”.
Although her school days are long behind her, Clare still remembers “the terror of changing into mufti at weekends”, and has some very sound advice for her younger self that schoolgirls would do well to heed: “Think less about what other people think and more about who you want to be. If you were going to describe yourself in adjectives, what would you want to be described as? Do you want to be kind? Do you want to be thoughtful? Energetic? Generous, ambitious, competitive? Don’t think: ‘I want to have long straight hair and all the latest clothes.’ That is not who you are and that is not how you will be remembered.”
It is comments such as these that explain why Clare has become one of today’s most influential female role models. She is constantly flying the flag for women in sport and beyond, and has big aspirations. “In 10 years’ time I would like to open the sports pages of any newspaper and for it to be genuinely balanced.”
She believes women’s football holds the key and is hugely excited to start covering it. “Football is the biggie because so many people do it. It is going to reach a tipping point very soon where interest multiplies exponentially.” She is hopeful that it could go on the kind of journey that the Paralympics went on under her watch. “The more people that know about it, the more stories we can tell, the more familiar we can get people with the players, the more people will enjoy it and be interested.” And who better than Clare Balding to make that a reality?
The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop is out now in paperback, (£6.99 Puffin Books) available in stores or online. Walk this way Getting children to go for a walk can be like pulling teeth. Luckily, with 17 years’ worth of Ramblings around the countryside under her belt for her Radio 4 series, Clare has some great tips to keep everyone moving in the right direction:
★ Do things in chunks, like the Cotswold Way or the Thames Path: “It might be five miles the first time, then next weekend you do the next five. They love being able to say, ‘We’ve done all that.’” ★ Do a well-known walk and research landmarks beforehand: “For example, you’ve got all those castles on the North East Coastal path. Get them to find out five facts about each. That’s really fun.” ★ Focus on bird and tree identification: “Children love trees. I do a bit of help with the Woodland Trust and getting kids feeling responsible for trees, recognising different types, knowing what’s evergreen, what’s not, what comes out early, what doesn’t, is great.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 3-2-1 Action!
If live broadcasting is on your child’s career radar, then there’s no time like the present, according to Clare. “These days, there’s so much you can do to make yourself a really good broadcaster before you even get to secondary school.
Clare’s Homework: Write up a school event as a 250-word report, then write it up as a 500-word report, then try and do a 40-second voice piece. Work out how many words you need (usually three words per second), and deliver it. You can film on an iPhone, then edit on a laptop or iPad.
LUXURY FAMILY TRAVEL
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AFRICAN ADVENTURES
PHOEBE, 13, OUR JUNIOR TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, REPORTS ON HER LATEST TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
“ I dreamed of going to Africa and when I fi nally got there the reality was more
amazing than I could have imagined. I might
have had to get up at 5.30 every morning
but the excitement of what the day would
bring had me leaping out of bed.
In the Kalahari Desert, breathing in the smell of Africa, I felt like I had stepped into another world. We followed a wild dog hunt on our fi rst game drive and the excitement was almost unbearable. The females led the way while the teenagers caused all sorts of mayhem chasing porcupine, warthog and too many antelope to count. As darkness sett led the hunt became more serious and I was actually glad not to see a kill. I have never felt so confl icted; while I wanted them to feed I could not help but cheer on the brave animals that fought them off . We tracked lions and made plaster casts of their giant paw prints. We found the pride lazing by a water hole while the cubs fed and annoyed the adults. When they ALL began to grunt and roar the air seemed to vibrate, my hair stood on end, my spine ti ngled and my tummy rolled. It got louder and louder before the two males roared so loud that even the truck shook. It was exhilarati ng! While watching a meerkat colony, our tracker picked up fresh cheetah tracks and moments later we were lucky enough to see two of them lying in the evening sun watching the world go by. I will never forget my fi rst sunset over the Kalahari, the sand and sky turned every shade of green, blue and pink imaginable unti l all I could see were silhouett es and stars that seemed close enough to touch. In the Kruger we tracked rhino and saw a leopard up a tree with its kill, found lions, giraff e, hippo, elephant and buff alo. We were even surprised by a hyena while on a ‘pit’ stop behind a bush one morning. We had our luxurious safari tent raided (while we were out!) by a troop of very clever baboons who took clothes, washbags and my sister’s Lati n revision - or that is what she told school. I was a litt le scared but mostly cross unti l the guides made me laugh by saying that somewhere out in the bush were some very well dressed and perfumed baboons with fresh breath reciti ng their tenses.
I will never forget a single day and I cannot wait to return. Africa really does get under your skin.”
To plan your own safari adventure please contact Bailey Robinson Africa specialist Jake t: +44 (0)1488 689700 | e: jake@baileyrobinson.com
