Clare Balding has shared her hopes of slowing down and being more 'present' at home with her wife, Alice Arnold, following a 30-year career in broadcasting. The presenter, 55, has dedicated her life and soul to television and radio for three incredible decades.
She kick-started her career as a trainee with BBC National Radio in 1994 and made her TV debut covering Royal Ascot a year later. In the many years that followed, Clare has fronted major sporting and royal events, from Wimbledon to the Olympics.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: 'I do far less work now than I did in my forties, thirties and twenties. But I hope it's better quality as I work smarter and I can combine things. If I've got to do book events, I'll tie it in with something else.'
'I wish I'd learned the art of enjoying the moment sooner, that is something that I am really so much better at now. And taking time and appreciating what's around me and wanting to be home more, to be honest.'
'I mean, I love my work and I love the variety of my work, but I also am very appreciative and better at being present. Maybe that's something that always comes with age, you'd be a pretty unusual teenager if you could do that, I think.'
When she does get to take a moment for herself, Clare enjoys playing golf with her wife Alice, walking, going to Pilates and reading plenty of books. 'The sun is shining today, I'm going to make sure I'm out,' she insisted. 'I'm literally about to go and play nine holes of golf because I can fit that in between other things.'
A Partnership Built on Trust and Laughter
Finding quality time in between their busy careers has never been an issue for broadcasting legend Clare and Mellow Magic host Alice, 64. The prominent broadcasting couple first met back in 1999 when they were both working at the BBC. After their friendship blossomed into something more, they entered a civil partnership in 2006 before officially marrying in 2015.
They have since made a break from hectic London life to move to the country – or, at least, to the stockbroker belt, the Daily Mail has learned. The couple have long spoken about wanting to up sticks and leave the smoke behind, but they have now swapped leafy Chiswick near the Thames for even leafier Esher, even though it's only ten miles upstream. While the move might not quite constitute a rural idyll, as Esher is only 23 minutes from London Waterloo, it may well give them a chance to indulge their love of dogs and horses.
Clare is one of the most familiar and well-loved faces on British TV – a reassuring, incisive presence gliding from the Olympics to Crufts, Wimbledon drama to Royal pageantry without breaking stride. But away from the cameras and commentary, friends say the broadcaster's real pride has long been the life she shares with Arnold – a partnership that has quietly become one of the most enduring and admired marriages in broadcasting.
Clare opened up about their love story to the Daily Mail and said 'trust, honesty and laughter' has been the foundation of their happy marriage. She said: 'Alice and I just have the most lovely time together, we have so much fun and we enjoy doing the same things to relax. But also we have the same work ethic, Alice works for Mellow Magic, she's a radio person through and through. She totally understands the broadcast environment and she's very honest with me and will say if she thinks I haven't done something well or could do it better, so I think there's that level of trust and honesty.'
'We laugh a lot and we are very aware of the value of our time together. I want to do good work, I want to do quality work, but I really value my time with Alice, so it has to be pretty special to take me away from that.'
Clare also revealed that the key to their happy marriage is 'communicating', especially if she is away travelling for work. 'You know, we talk,' she said. 'If I am away doing Winter Olympics or something like that, we talk twice or three times a day and I will message all the time.'
Supporting the Digital Landline Switchover
Clare has joined forces with BT to launch their new 'Don't Put Off The Switch' campaign ahead of the nationwide digital landline switchover. The TV star is raising awareness around how the UK's 40-year old analogue landline network is due to be retired by January 2027, with many households still needing to move to a digital service. With a particular focus on protecting vulnerable customers, Clare is urging BT users to act when contacted about switching to Digital Voice.
She said: 'I'm very aware of people being a bit scared of technology and I think updates are always something that some people can be very resistant to, but actually the point about digital voice is that it has an inbuilt mechanism where it can stop the spam and scams calls. I've had massive conversations with people who have been really close to being properly scammed through quite sophisticated groups that are using the old analogue lines, which is going to retire in January. So with digital voices coming, it's really just a call to people to make sure that when they're contacted by the landline provider, they get on and respond.'
'BT will walk you through everything,' she reassured. 'It's really simple and it's much, much better. That's the reason I wanted to get involved because I think it makes people more secure and safer. It is an advancement, it's an improvement, and I just don't want people to feel that it's something that they should delay, I don't want them to get to Christmas, having delayed it, and then suddenly the analogue system's being switched off in January and they haven't done anything, and there's a mad rush. So I think it's just about trying to get a message out there because most people aren't aware.'
