Clare Balding

From “racing royalty”, Clare Balding has become a household name Kate Johnson talks to her about her new book, the upcoming Tokyo Games and those who influenced her career

- Kate Johnson

WHEN the young Clare Balding’s teacher, Mrs T, asked the class what they’d all like to be when they grew up, Clare’s hand shot up and she answered brightly, “An eventer.”

Mrs T responded, “Oh, that’s interesting, what do you want to invent?”

It wasn’t the only time she felt misunderstood, and it’s just one of the tales that she recounts in her new book about resilience, Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going. It’s ostensibly for children aged nine to 12, but like all good children’s books, it’s useful and entertaining for adults too and packed with inspiring case studies of successful athletes, personal anecdotes, friendly tips and advice.

Clare wrote the book because “I wanted to tell stories about my childhood that would have helped me if I could have read them; that classic thing of, ‘I wish I’d known when I was 11 or 12 that it doesn’t matter if you’re different.’”

She’s candid and (also in the book) she shares a prime example of what she’s talking about. Had she known that “you don’t have to change your behaviour to make yourself fit in, just stick with it, it’ll be all right, look for things you can do that make you feel confident”, she might not have tried so hard to infiltrate the cool gang, which resulted in her being suspended from school for shoplifting.

She says this was her “absolute rock bottom; the sense of shame was massive and feeling that everyone’s talking about you – not in a good way – and you don’t have a single friend in the universe and no one understands, your parents don’t understand.”