Within minutes of listening to Louise Minchin talk about her incredible sporting feats, I find myself wanting to sign up for extreme triathlons, experience free diving in the dark and take up climbing.
It was impossible not to feel motivated, empowered and energised by the former BBC Breakfast presenter turned athlete and author who was in Aberdeen last night for an inspirational talk to mark the publication of her latest book Isolation Island.
But it wasn’t only Louise who captivated the sold out Lemon Tree audience as she was joined on stage by Inverness’s world record-breaking cyclist Jenny Graham, the host for the evening, whose stories were equally as inspiring.
From terrifying ice dives and potholing to cycling through some of the world’s most dangerous places, there were no shortage of incredible stories between both Louise and Jenny.
Louise Minchin and Jenny Graham empowering women to take on adventures
And it was clear that the formidable duo were on a mission to empower everyone – especially women.
“It’s all about encouraging more diversity in adventure,” Louise tells the audience.
“During my time on the BBC sofa I started to realise that the majority of times we interviewed people about epic stories they were men.
“There were all these incredible women who weren’t being celebrated so that was the motivation to write my last book Fearless which is about ordinary women doing extraordinary things and celebrating these women.”
Bumping into George Clooney
Female empowerment is clearly something close to Louise’s heart as she also touched upon her equal pay battle with the BBC and how she challenged bosses over the fact that she rarely ever led the programme with the first ‘hello’ or interview.
But despite this, Louise says she absolutely loved her 20 years on the BBC Breakfast sofa interviewing everyone from politicians to Hollywood star George Clooney, with whom she had a hilarious encounter in a lift.
“I was late for the interview, so I was running through the lobby of the Grosvenor Hotel in London and I fell into the lift, right into the arms of George Clooney,” she laughs.
“I just said to him ‘it’s you’.”
Tribute to the late Bill Turnbull
One poignant moment came when Louise paid tribute to her late BBC co-star Bill Turnbull who sadly died of prostate cancer in 2022.
“I loved Bill and I mention him at every single speaking event that I do to raise awareness of prostate cancer,” says Louise.
Before a Q&A with the audience, Louise chatted about how her new book, Isolation Island, is a thriller inspired by her stint on ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’.
“I’ve been wanting to write a thriller for most of my life,” says Louise.
“So the novel is about 10 celebrities who are sent to a desolate Scottish island.”
Judging by the excited chatter afterwards as people queued up to buy Louise’s new book, I won’t be the only one inspired to sign up for a new sporting challenge.
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