In conversation
Clare Balding talks to Charlotte Oliver about overcoming self-doubt, being awarded a CBE and blazing a trail for women in sport
It’s hard to imagine Clare Balding finding any reason to doubt herself. Her achievements in broadcasting, combined with a recently awarded CBE, hardly give cause for a lack of self-belief. She led the BBC’s coverage of the Platinum Pageant – the climax of four days of celebrations held in honour of The Queen’s Jubilee – but when we speak I’m surprised to learn that she almost turned the job down entirely, because she was ‘terrified of getting it wrong’.
‘This was the biggest commentary job I’d ever done on telly,’ says Clare, recalling the enormity of the five-hour task. ‘There’s just so much scope to get it wrong. That’s always the risk you run with any major event – if I mess up, the response will be negative because you’re rarely allowed to make an honest mistake on TV. But then I thought, “I go and talk to kids in schools about doing things that scare them and here’s me tempted to say no because I’m scared. Don’t just say it, live it.”’
Since the Jubilee, it has been a busy summer for Clare. She presented live TV coverage from Wimbledon and the Commonwealth Games, and is currently serving her two-year tenure as president of the Rugby Football League.
ROYAL CONNECTIONS
In June she was awarded a CBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to sport and charity, which she’s clearly both humbled and buoyed by. ‘I was massively surprised, but obviously, it’s lovely,’ she says. ‘I’ve received so many nice letters, not just from individuals, but from organisations and charities I’ve worked with. It means a lot to me, and it’s lovely to see how much it means to other people, too, who also feel reflected.’ Being recognised by The Queen was particularly special for Clare, due to her close connections with the monarch. Her father, Ian Balding, trained many of The Queen’s horses, and Clare has often found herself in the monarch’s company. The pair, she explains, bonded over their mutual love of dogs and horses. ‘I once went to lunch at Windsor Castle,’ she remembers. ‘You know the scene from the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, which saw the corgis lead James Bond down the hallway? That actually happens when you visit her. The Queen loves naughty dogs. She also loves to know when things go wrong on TV and how you cope in those moments. There’s always a story she wants to hear.’
CELEBRATING WOMEN
Having risen to prominence in the world of horse racing (first as a jockey, then as a commentator and presenter), Clare, now 51, has galloped into the upper echelons of British broadcasting. She’s presented seven
