Speakers
Clare Balding OBE
Hugely popular TV presenter and commentator. Clare is also a best selling author and in much demand as a speaker, conference and awards host.
Clare Balding was the first voice on BBC1 in 2006. As the fireworks display exploded over the Thames and around the London Eye, Clare was broadcasting to an audience of 10.1 million people who chose to see in the New Year watching BBC TV.
Clare is a television and radio broadcaster across a variety of programmes, including Crufts, the Lord Mayor’s Show, Trooping the Colour, the Olympics, Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Sport Relief, Grandstand, Race Country, Housecall in the Country, Wimbledon on Radio 5 Live and Ramblings on Radio 4.
She won the prestigious Radio and Television Society Award as Sports Presenter of the Year for 2003, has been voted Racing Journalist of the Year and Racing Broadcaster of the Year by the Horserace Writers Association and has been part of BAFTA Award winning Olympic programmes on BBC TV and Sony Award winning coverage on 5 Live. Clare was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2013. She was named in the 2015 Debrett’s list of top 500 British people of influence. In 2020 Clare was announced as the President of the Rugby Football League.
Clare presents all of the BBC’s horse racing coverage and is also the main presenter for rugby league, show jumping and 3-day eventing. As a former champion amateur jockey, she comes from a racing background. Her father, Ian, trained the great Mill Reef to win the Derby, Eclipse, King George and Arc de Triomphe. On his retirement in 2002, her brother Andrew took over the training license. A Classic winner in Andrew’s very first season prompted a memorable interview with his sister in the winner’s enclosure at Epsom after Casual Look won the Oaks.
With a 2.1 degree in English from Cambridge University, Clare is a writer as well as a broadcaster. She currently writes a sports column for the Observer and has worked for the Evening Standard, Racing Post, Sporting Life and Sunday Telegraph. She has also been a judge for the Whitbread Book Awards.
Clare has appeared on numerous shows including: Have I Got News, The Weakest Link, Countdown, They Think It’s All Over, Call My Bluff, Auntie’s Sporting Bloomers and Sport Relief.
“Clare Balding was fantastic she is a dream to work with and the guests absolutely loved her! Thank you so much for all your help.” Emma Jones, Events Executive, Reed Business Information
