Louise Minchin reveals moment the late Bill Turnbull helped inspire her to return to sport

Virgin Radio

21 May 2024, 14:03

Former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin has revealed how Bill Turnbull played a part in inspiring her to get back into sport.

The TV presenter and author was speaking with Ryan Tubridy on his Virgin Radio mid-morning show about her book, Fearless: Adventures with Extraordinary Women, when she revealed her own return to sport had a “very specific trigger”.

Fearless: Adventures with Extraordinary Women details 17 exhilarating adventures Louise undertook with a collection of trailblazing women who are doing everything from cycling across South American countries to freediving under sheets of Scandinavian ice.

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Explaining how her journey back into sport and extreme sports began, Louise said: “I was doing a BBC challenge, a cycling challenge ahead of Christmas, in the Velodrome in Manchester. And my lovely dear friend, now departed, Bill Turnbull - I was racing essentially against him, as well as Susanna Reid.

“He was heard to say ‘There’s one thing that can’t happen today - I can’t be beaten by a girl’... what a foolish thing to say! And so there was a moment then when I did that race and I kind of made a choice whether to race safely, or to try and beat Bill. And the bottom line is I put everything on the line and I did beat him!”

While beating Bill was not a conscious effort to solve anything greater than a petty squabble day, Louise explained: “When I went over the finishing line, I just went: ‘Oh my gosh!’ I forgot for 30 years how much I loved that feeling of pushing yourself, of challenging yourself and doing something that you think is hard. So I went back to sport.”

During her chat with Ryan, the freelance BBC presenter explained how she grew up swimming competitively, but then gave it up because of body image insecurities she developed as a teen.

“I feel so ashamed to say that, but I say that because there’ll be people today who are listening who think ‘Ooh gosh, that’s maybe why I gave up or maybe why I shouldn’t give up and I should get back and do whatever it is that I love.'"

Fearless: Adventures with Extraordinary Women by Louise Minchin will be released in paperback on 23rd May 2024.

Listen to The Ryan Tubridy Show on Virgin Radio UK, weekdays from 10am-1pm.