Channel 4 Racing presenter biographies

13 November 2013

Clare Balding OBE (Presenter)

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Born: 29th January 1971

Winner of the BAFTA Special Award and RTS Presenter of the Year Award for her expert coverage of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Clare Balding is one of Britain's leading broadcasters.

Clare has worked in radio since she left university in 1994, and has been presenting sports on television since 1998. She has worked on five Olympic Games, four Paralympics and three Winter Olympics, alongside presenting horse racing for Channel 4.  Clare can turn her hand to any sport - from racing to rugby league, swimming, golf or tennis – and is equally at home on radio or TV, and is renowned for her versatility and reliability.

Clare has hosted walking series Ramblings on Radio 4 since 1999, and in 2010 she also presented Britain By Bike on BBC4 and Crufts for the BBC and More4. She has worked on Britain's Hidden Heritage and Countryfile. In December 2012, Clare became the host of BBC1’s ‘Britain’s Brightest’.  This year, Clare has presented two documentaries around horses - Secrets of the Suffragettes for Channel 4 and The Queen: A Passion for Horses for BBC One.

An expert at live major event, Clare has presented the Diamond Jubilee, the Lord Mayor’s Show, the Trooping the Colour, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and New Year’s Eve, but she also has an uncanny knack of getting the most out of interview subjects - as illustrated by her work on Radio 2’s ‘Good Morning Sunday’. She is an experienced host of awards ceremonies, a lively and amusing after dinner speaker and an authoritative voiceover artist.

Clare has been part of BAFTA Award-winning programmes, has been named RTS Sports Presenter of the Year, Sports Presenter of the Year at the TRIC Awards, Racing Journalist of the Year, awarded the special achievement award at the Women in Film and Television awards for her work on the Olympics and Paralympics and been praised for “perfect presentation” by the judges of the Broadcast Awards. Clare has also been honoured for her presenting with awards from Attitude Magazine, Red Magazine, Tatler and the Horserace Writers Association. She has a proven track record of creative input and practical effort in every programme on which she works.

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.

A bestselling author, Clare's first book, My Animals and Other Family was published in 2012. Based on her childhood growing up in an unusual household, it was published to critical acclaim and went onto win biography of the year at the National Book Awards.

Racing interests:  Balding's father is Ian Balding who trained champion thoroughbred Mill Reef.  Her brother, Andrew Balding, became the licensed racehorse trainer at Park House in January 2003.  From 1988 to 1993, Balding was a leading amateur flat jockey and Champion Lady Rider in 1990.

Clare and her partner, Alice Arnold live in West London.