- Clare Balding
-
Clare Balding 
Born Clare Victoria Balding
1971
London, EnglandNationality British Ethnicity White British Occupation Sports presenter, journalist, jockey, TV presenter Employer BBC Partner Alice Arnold (2006–present) Parents Ian Balding
Emma (née Hastings-Bass)Clare Balding (born 1971 in Westminster district,[1] London, England) is a BBC sports presenter, journalist and jockey.
Contents
Early life
In 1989 and 1990, Balding was a leading amateur flat jockey and Champion Lady Rider in 1990.
She was educated at Downe House, in Berkshire, where she was Head Girl[2] and studied English at Newnham College, Cambridge where she was President of the Cambridge Union Society in Easter 1992 and graduated in 1993 with a 2:1 honours degree.
Broadcasting career
She became a trainee with BBC National Radio in 1994, working on 5 Live, Radio 1 (presenting the sport on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show), Radio 2 and Radio 4. In 1995, she made her debut as a television presenter during Royal Ascot. She became BBC horse racing presenter in December 1997 after the retirement of Julian Wilson and has fronted coverage of the Grand National.
She has reported from four Olympic Games, for BBC Radio in Atlanta and for BBC Television in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. She has presented two Paralympic Games, the Winter Olympics from Turin and Vancouver as well as the Commonwealth Games from Melbourne and Delhi. She is the face of the BBC's rugby league coverage, having presented Grandstand from a Rugby League Challenge Cup semi-final, and having been so impressed by the vibrancy and physical challenge of the sport she requested to cover further rugby league events.
She also presents the Lord Mayor's Show as well as other live events for the BBC such as Trooping the Colour and New Year's Eve. In March 2010 she presented Channel Four's coverage of Crufts.[3]
She also presents the walking programme Ramblings for BBC Radio 4 (where she also stands-in on the Saturday Live programme), and Wimbledon for 5 Live.
In 2010, Balding presented a BBC TV series that retraced some of Harold Briercliffe's British cycle tours.[4]
Balding joined Chris Evans as co-host of Channel 4's Famous and Fearless in January 2011.[5] The show has since been cancelled because of poor ratings.[6]
In August 2011 Balding joined BBC's Countryfile to replace Julia Bradbury who left the show to have a baby, she co-hosts the show with Matt Baker.
Writing
Balding has written regular columns for The Observer, the Evening Standard and The Sporting Life.
Controversy
During the 2009 Grand National, Balding commented on winning jockey Liam Treadwell's teeth, and suggested that he could "get them done" with his prize fund.[7] The BBC received 1,477 complaints about the comment,[8] leading to an apology from both the presenter and the BBC.
Awards
Balding was the Royal Television Society's "Sports Presenter of the Year" in 2003. In the same year, she won the "Racing Journalist of the Year Award" and has followed up with the award for "Racing Broadcaster of the Year".
Family and personal life
Balding has close family links to horse racing: her father, Ian Balding, trained Mill Reef, 1971 winner of the Epsom Derby, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and her younger brother, Andrew Matthews Balding, trained Casual Look, the winner of the 2003 Epsom Oaks. The latter win led to a very emotional post-race interview with her brother. Furthermore, her grandfather was the trainer Peter Hastings-Bass and her maternal uncle the 17th Earl of Huntingdon former trainer to Queen Elizabeth II. Her maternal grandmother Priscilla is descended from the Earls of Derby.
In September 2006, she formalised her relationship with the BBC Radio 4 continuity announcer and newsreader Alice Arnold by entering into a civil partnership.[9] They live in Chiswick, London.
On 29 May 2009, Balding announced that she had thyroid cancer. She told the Daily Mail newspaper that she had her thyroid gland removed and would have radioactive iodine treatment in July that year.[10] She promised to be back on television covering the Epsom Derby, by the following Saturday. On 21 August 2009 she announced on her website the results from a post-treatment scan which showed the radioactive iodine had been successful with no signs of the thyroid cancer having spread anywhere else.
In July 2010, Balding made a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission over an article by writer A. A. Gill in The Sunday Times that she felt had mocked her sexuality and appearance[11] and for which the newspaper refused to apologise.[12] The PCC found in her favour, judging that AA Gill had "refer[red] to the complainant's sexuality in a demeaning and gratuitous way".[13]
Charitable activity
Balding participated in a celebrity edition of The Apprentice in order to raise money for charity.[14] Sport Relief Does The Apprentice is part of the BBC's annual charity initiative and aired on 12 March and 14 March 2008.
"The Girls' team", which also included Louise Redknapp, Jacqueline Gold, Kirstie Allsopp and Lisa Snowdon, won the contest, raising over £400,000 from ticket sales and sales on the night of the big event at their shop.
In 2010 Balding became a patron of the British Thyroid Foundation.[15]
References
- ^ Births England and Wales 1837-2006 Find my Past
- ^ Miranda BBC Two, November 2010
- ^ dfs Crufts 2010 Channel 4
- ^ Britain by Bike - The Cotswolds BBC Four
- ^ http://famousandfearless.channel4.com/
- ^ Ryan Love 'Channel 4 axes Famous and Fearless' Digital Spy 21 February 2011.
- ^ Revoir, Paul (6 April 2009). "BBC presenter Clare Balding humiliates Grand National winning jockey with jibe about his crooked teeth". Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1167902/BBC-presenter-Clare-Balding-humiliates-Grand-National-winning-jockey-jibe-crooked-teeth.html. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
- ^ "Presenter sorry over teeth jibe". BBC News. 5 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7985464.stm. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
- ^ Balding finally steps out with lesbian lover Mail Online, 18 September 2006
- ^ Minsky, Helen; Glass, Katie (29 May 2009). "BBC sports presenter Clare Balding is battling thyroid cancer". Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1189332/BBC-sports-presenter-Clare-Balding-battling-thyroid-cancer.html. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ "Clare Balding makes Sunday Times sex jibe complaint". BBC News. 30 July 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10817463. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ Caroline Davies Clare Balding complains to press watchdog over 'dyke' jibe, The Guardian, 30 July 2010
- ^ Clare Balding complaint over sexuality is upheld BBC News, 17 September 2010; Retrieved 17 September 2010
- ^ "Clare Balding to appear in Sport Relief Does The Apprentice for charity", Charities Aid Foundation, 28 February 2008; Retrieved 29 February 2008
- ^ Patrons British Thyroid Foundation
External links
- Official Clare Balding Website
- Biography of Clare Balding BBC Press Office
- Clare Balding at the Internet Movie Database
Awards Preceded by
Gary LinekerRTS Television Sport Awards
Best Sports Presenter
2003Succeeded by
Gary LinekerCategories:- 1971 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
- Balding family
- BBC Radio 4
- BBC sports presenters and reporters
- British horse racing writers and broadcasters
- English jockeys
- English radio presenters
- English rugby league commentators
- English television presenters
- Lesbian sportspeople
- LGBT people from England
- LGBT sportspeople from the United Kingdom
- LGBT television personalities
- People educated at Downe House School
- People with cancer
- Presidents of the Cambridge Union Society
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
