Main content

Clare Balding

Kirsty Young talks to broadcaster Clare Balding.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster Clare Balding.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TV coverage of London's 2012 Olympics was her triumph and much like Team GB she'd been in training for her big moment for quite a while.

She's worked on five Olympic Games, four Paralympics, three Winter Olympics and a great deal of horse racing. It's on the turf that's she's most at home - her father was a champion racehorse trainer and for a number of years she herself was a leading amateur flat jockey.

The first pony she ever rode, as a toddler, was a gift from the Queen; she went to public school and Cambridge but her life hasn't been an entirely easy ride. She has coped with thyroid cancer, being forcibly "outed" by the tabloid press and in her own words being "a disappointment from the moment" she was born.

She says, "This may sound nauseating but I'm a very happy person. I love my work, I love my life and I'm told by those who know and love me that it's a bit like living with Tigger".

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Dec 2013 09:00

Music Played

  • Barenaked Ladies

    If I Had A Million Dollars

    • All Their Greatest Hits.
    • Warner.
  • Denis King

    Galloping Home

    Performer: London String Chorale.
    • 100 Greatest TV Themes Volume 2 CD1.
    • Weekend.
  • Yazoo

    Only You

    • The Best of Yazoo.
    • Mute Records.
  • Neil Diamond

    Beautiful Noise

    • Forever in Blue Jeans.
    • Sony.
  • Underworld

    Caliban's Dream

    • Isles of Wonder.
    • Universal.
  • Belle and Sebastian

    I Want the World to Stop

    • Belle and Sebastian Write About Love.
    • Rough Trade.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Billy Joel

      She's Got a Way

      • Piano Man: The Very Best of Billy Joel.
      • Universal.
  • Beck Goldsmith

    I Vow to Thee My Country

    • Vow to Thee My Country.
    • Hollow Hill.
  • Book Choice

    • Encyclopaedia of Nature

  • Luxury Choice

    • Thermos mug with tea, milk and sugar

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Clare Balding
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 Dec 2013 11:15
  • Fri 6 Dec 2013 09:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast