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Pesala Bandara is a journalist, business-owner and cheese-eater. She lives in Birmingham with her husband Matt and their Chihuahua Chico.

A former magazine editor, Charlie Butterfield was born in Bristol and studied English at Royal Holloway. She moved to Dubai by herself on a one-way ticket with one suitcase in 2005 and left twelve years later with a husband, three children and a 40ft shipping container. She now lives in the Cotswolds, where she is a freelance writer and novelist.

Clare Balding grew up in the countryside surrounded by horses and dogs, and reading everything from Jilly Cooper to Henry James. Her autobiography, My Animals and Other Family, won the National Book Award for Autobiography of the Year and she has also written a series of children’s books set around a girl and her horse.

After an English Literature degree at Cambridge she became a journalist. Alongside her award-winning Olympics and Wimbledon broadcasting and coverage of major royal events, Clare hosts her much-loved Ramblings series on Radio 4, taking her across the British Isles exploring its landscape and its storytelling.

A passionate campaigner for equality and women’s sport, Clare was awarded a CBE in 2022.