Clare Balding and Hardeep Singh Kohli

Clare Balding

Clare Balding is one of the BBC’s main sports presenters. She fronts all its live racing coverage, including the Grand National, Royal Ascot, the Derby and l’Arc de Triomphe.

A presenter of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games from Beijing in 2008, Athens in 2004 and Sydney in 2000, Clare has been part of BAFTA award-winning coverage for a decade. She can turn her hand to Winter Olympics (2002 and 2006), Commonwealth Games (2006), rugby league, three-day-eventing, show-jumping, swimming, golf, tennis, bowls or darts. In 2002 and 2004 she was one of the presenters of Sport Relief.

In 2003 Clare started to branch out of sport, presenting a new series, Housecall In The Country, a live weekday magazine programme covering a variety of lifestyle topics.

A regular presenter on Radio 4 and Radio 5 live she has fronted programmes such as Saturday Live, Woman’s Hour, Pick of the Week, Broadcasting House and the walking series Ramblings. She is part of the team that presents the National Hunt Festival from Cheltenham, co-presents its Wimbledon coverage and was also the first woman to commentate on a Wimbledon final.

She has made guest appearances on numerous TV shows including Have I Got News For You, A Question Of Sport, They Think It’s All Over, Countdown, Call My Bluff, Test The Nation, University Challenge, Weakest Link and Mastermind.

In early 2011 Clare co-presented Famous & Fearless for Channel 4.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)

The Myths of Greece and Rome by H. A. Guerber (1893)

This was Clare's most highly recommended book.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (2008)

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (2000)

Hardeep Singh Kohli

Comedian, writer and broadcaster, Hardeep Singh Kohli grew up in Glasgow, beginning his broadcasting career at BBC Scotland before moving to London and Manchester to direct and present TV programmes which included the RTS and BAFTA winning show, It'll Never Work.

In 2004 he wrote, directed and starred in Channel 4's Meet the Magoons and also wrote and presented the BAFTA winning one-off documentary, In Search of the Tartan Turban also for Channel 4.

In 2008 Hardeep was a judge on the Booker Prize. In the same year he published his own book Indian Takeaway: One Man's Attempt Cook His Way Home. The book tells of Hardeep’s attempts to cook his way round India, dishing up very British meals for the people he meets. His love of food led to him being runner-up on the first series of Celebrity Masterchef which led to two series for UKTV Food, New British Kitchen and Chefs and the City.

In August 2009 he performed his one man show, The Nearly Naked Chef at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2010 he took it on tour round the UK. Hardeep will be continuing to tour across the UK with the show till July 2011.

Hardeep was one of the panel who chose the final 25 books for World Book Night 2011. The list features one of the books he chose for My Life in Books: Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance.

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl (1970)

Lanark by Alasdair Gray (1981)

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995)

This was Hardeep's most highly recommended book.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848)