The BBC sports broadcaster Clare Balding has a keen fanbase, and I suspect she can add to it the passengers on a Virgin train from London to Preston this morning.
On Twitter she reported sitting in an overcrowded, standing-room-only carriage ("I'm not in first class, by the way. It's the BBC") and wondered why the four first-class carriages were relatively empty. Within minutes Clare had "just talked to Keith, the train manager, and he has declassified (coach) G."
If the definition of a heroine is someone who achieves what millions would like to, if only they had the gumption or courage, then Balding fits the bill (as if her reporting of AA Gill to the Press Complaints Commission earlier this year for his cretinous homophobia wasn't enough).
She's also damn good at her job. My own admiration began when, despite being an avowed novice, she enthusiastically anchored the BBC's Rugby League coverage, winning over hardcore fans while catering for newcomers to the game. Is there anything she can't do? Well, I'm not sure about her attempts to revitalise the "wedge" haircut beloved of early 1980s casuals, but that's a trivial gripe. Balding for PM? The campaign starts here.
