This article will answer every question you have about Clare Balding. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about her.
- What does Clare Balding do for a living?
- Who are Clare Balding’s parents and siblings?
- What are Clare Balding’s interests and hobbies?
- Is Clare Balding married or does she have a boyfriend?
- Does Clare Balding have any children?
- Where is Clare Balding now?
- How tall is Clare Balding?
- How much money does Clare Balding earn?
- What is Clare Balding’s net worth?
N/B: Please read the entire post to have all your questions answered.
Who is Clare Balding?
Clare Balding is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the religious programme Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2.
Clare Balding’s Career
Broadcasting career
Clare 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 June 1995, she made her debut as a television presenter, introducing highlights of Royal Ascot. The following year she began presenting live, and in December 1997 she became the BBC’s lead horse racing presenter after the retirement of Julian Wilson and has fronted coverage of the Grand National, infamously humiliating Liam Treadwell, Grand National winner 2009.
Balding has reported from six Olympic Games, for BBC Radio in Atlanta and for BBC Television in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro. Balding has presented four Paralympic Games, the Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City, Turin, Vancouver and Sochi as well as the Commonwealth Games from Melbourne, Delhi and Glasgow. She was 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 asked to cover further rugby league events. She was the last person to present Sunday Grandstand.
She also presents the walking programme Ramblings for BBC Radio 4 where she walks and talks with one or more devotees of a particular route, area or activity and has, for example, walked sections of the Lyke Wake Walk and Dales Way for the programme. Clare worked on 5 Live’s Wimbledon coverage from 1995–2014. From 2015 onwards, Balding has presented BBC2’s Wimbledon Highlights programme. There has been some criticism of her in this role. She has also presented coverage of The Boat Race for the BBC since 2010, including the first live coverage of the women’s Boat Race on the Tideway in 2015.
Britain By Bike
In 2010, Balding presented a BBC TV series called Britain By Bike that retraced some of Harold Briercliffe’s British cycle tours. In August 2011 Balding joined BBC’s Countryfile, temporarily replacing Julia Bradbury while Bradbury was on maternity leave, co-hosting the show with Matt Baker. Bradbury returned in February 2012. From February to March 2012 she presented Sport and the British on BBC Radio 4, a thirty-part series looking at the impact of sports on British life. Balding was a lead presenter on Channel 4’s Paralympics TV coverage. In August 2012 it was reported that Balding would be presenting Channel 4’s racing coverage, while still retaining an option to work for the BBC on non-racing programmes such as rugby league.
In October 2012, she appeared before an All-Party Parliamentary Group on women’s sport, with Katherine Grainger, Hope Powell and Tanni Grey-Thompson. “Women having the freedom to play sports leads directly to women having political freedom,” said Balding. In 2013, to mark the centenary of Emily Wilding Davison’s fatal intervention in the 1913 Derby, Balding presented a documentary about Davison for Channel 4 called Secrets of the Suffragettes. Also in 2013, she presented a BBC documentary about the Queen called The Queen – a Passion for Horses. Other factual documentaries for the BBC have included Britain By Bike, Operation Wild, and Britain’s Hidden Heritage.
BBC Sports
She has served as one of the presenters on BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Balding was the presenter of Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2 from January 2013 to November 2017; leaving the show due to schedule changes that would not allow her to continue to present the programme and do other work. Balding also presented a Saturday night quiz show for BBC1 called Britain’s Brightest, which began in January 2013. She was a senior presenter on Channel 4 Racing, from 2013 to 2016, predominantly fronting coverage of major festivals such as Cheltenham and Royal Ascot.
Balding currently hosts her own sports chat show called The Clare Balding Show, which airs on BT Sport and BBC Two. Guests so far have included Lewis Hamilton, Tom Daley, Mike Tyson, Martina Navratilova, Frankie Dettori, Judy Murray and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Writing
Clare has written columns for The Sporting Life, Racing Post, Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and Stylist and currently writes a regular weekly sports column for Waitrose Weekend.
She signed a deal with Viking Press to write an autobiography entitled My Animals and Other Family, which was published in September 2012. My Animals and Other Family reached Number One in The Sunday Times Bestseller list and has been translated into Italian, Mandarin and Hungarian. Her second book, Walking Home: My Family and other Ramblings, was published in September 2014.
Copy-control controversy
Balding was involved in a copy-control controversy in 2017, when it was alleged that she or her agent rewrote part of an interview that she gave to Saga magazine, provoking the journalist Ginny Dougray to remove her byline from the interview. According to Dougray, Balding removed sections of the text and inserted promotional material about her new book, as well as details of her hosting of the women’s European football championships and the words “And indeed she [Balding] sparkles all the way through the photoshoot,” despite Dougary commenting that this was not the case and that Balding was rather “a brisk, jolly-hockey-sticks type”. In a statement, Saga claimed that it had not given Balding copy control and that the interview was edited in conjunction with the author.
Awards
Balding was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting and journalism. In the same year, Balding was presented with the special BAFTA for her work on the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Balding won the Royal Television Society’s “Sports Presenter of the Year” in 2003 and “Presenter” in 2012. Also in 2003, she won the “Racing Journalist of the Year Award” and has followed up with the award for “Racing Broadcaster of the Year”.
In December 2012, she was awarded the “Biography/Autobiography of the Year” award of the National Book Awards for My Animals and Other Family. She won an achievement award from the UK chapter of the Women in Film and Television in 2012 for her coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics. Balding was awarded the 2012 Sports Journalists’ Association’s annual British Sports Journalism Award for Sports Broadcaster of the Year (BBC and Channel 4).
In February 2013 she was assessed as being one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. and also won the award for Sports Presenter at the Television and Radio Industries Club Awards. Her other awards include Attitude Awards TV Personality of the Year 2012, TRIC Sports Presenter of the Year 2013, British Equestrian Federation Outstanding Journalist of the Year 2014, First Women Awards Lifetime Achievement 2015 and Tatler magazines and the Horserace Writers’ Association.
How Old is Clare Balding?
Balding was born on 29 January 1971Kingsclere, Hampshire, England.
Clare Balding‘s Family
Who are Clare Balding’s parents?
Balding’s father is Ian Balding, trained Mill Reef, 1971 winner of The Derby, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Her mother is named Emma Hastings Balding.
Does Clare Balding have siblings?
Balding has a younger brother, Andrew Balding, trained Casual Look, the winner of the 2003 Epsom Oaks.
Clare Balding‘s Education
Balding was educated at Downe House in Berkshire, where she was Head Girl and a contemporary of comedian Miranda Hart.
Clare Balding‘s Marriage
Balding formalised her relationship with Alice Arnold, then a BBC Radio 4 continuity announcer and newsreader, in September 2006 by entering into a civil partnership. The couple lived with their Tibetan terrier, Archie. In April 2015, she and Arnold married in a private ceremony.
Clare Balding‘s Children – Kids
Balding’s children’s names are currently unavailable.
Clare Balding’s Net Worth
Balding has an estimated net worth of $15 million.
Height/Measurements
Balding stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in tall.
