Unmissable show?
I have three boys, so often they’ll have Top Gear on. It was funny, because last week at Queen’s the main man [recently deposed host Jeremy Clarkson] was shown on the screen and I shouted: “I know that man,” and everyone went: “How do you know about him?” Top Gear’s really crossed over to the States. What’s really fun is that my sons all like a different genre: my oldest likes history, my middle one likes outdoors stuff and my youngest likes all the sports. It makes for nice variety. I’m not saying I’m not in control of the clicker, though!
Earliest TV memory?
This is going to date me: I used to watch Dennis The Menace [the US series, known as Dennis over here] every single morning before school while my mum was getting ready. That and I Love Lucy. My first memory of tennis is watching Bobby Riggs play Billie Jean King [in the notorious Battle Of The Sexes match of 1973 which King won]. That really had an impact on me for what it represented. Everybody was crowding around in our clubhouse, the men on one side and the women supporting Billie Jean [on the other]. It wasn’t just “tennis people” watching: everybody was interested in the outcome.
Guilty pleasure?
HGTV: Home and Garden Television. It’s a channel with shows about gardening or remodelling a house, where they show the beginning of a house. You go: “Ooh, I don’t want to live in that house,” and half an hour later you have a gorgeous home. I have been known to literally sit there for a couple of hours and just veg out watching those shows.
Mastermind specialist subject?
Tennis doesn’t count, right? I think it would be the second world war. It’s amazing how the world could have completely changed if it went another way. It’s hard to believe that the entire world engaged in this war. Thank goodness for the outcome.
Wimbledon 2015 is live on BBC TV, radio and online from Mon
