Interview: Louise Minchin launches Fearless

It begins with Louise Minchin prepping for a day on BBC Breakfast, where she will interview the classic stories; however, at the end, there will be a wholesome story surrounding someone’s latest daring endeavour. 

However, Louise had noticed that, over her career, as much as she loved these sections, she was disappointed that she rarely interviewed women. 

She pondered on this, as her passion for sport, particularly women in sport, was great, yet their stories weren’t being told in the mainstream media. She knew these women were out there and was determined to amplify their achievements. 

“I did this challenge on BBC Breakfast where we raced in the velodrome, and I’d never even been in the velodrome, let alone raced. What happened on that day was I remembered how much I loved sports. It was just this massive moment of illumination when I was like, Oh, my gosh, I forgot how much I love to race.”

It wasn’t that women weren’t achieving these amazing feats of endurance; it’s that we don’t hear about them in the mainstream news. She said: “I can do one of two things. I can sit here and try to get those stories on BBC Breakfast, or I can get off the sofa, meet some of these women, and tell their stories because that’s the one thing I can do. I’m a journalist; I’m a storyteller.

“I can hopefully go out there and help amplify their stories so that other people can be inspired by them.”

That is how Louise’s new book was created. Fearless explores women in sports, including freediving, mountaineering, swimming, cycling, and ultrarunning. Over 13 months, Louise explores multiple sport styles, citing her experiences with a brave truth, showing how anyone can begin these sports from ground zero and find a love for them. 

In this book, Louise spends time with athletes and women at the top of their game, including Susie Chan, Belinda Kirk, Caroline Bramwell, and Mimi Anderson. Names that might be household within their own sports but mean minimal to the average person. Another aspect that Lousie thought was incredible. 

She stated that throughout her journey, she found that many of these women did their sport for the love of it, not the fame; however, using her platform, Louise hoped their influence would inspire other women to take on a new challenge.