'Marriage is a Test'

BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan, 49, reflects on her 30-year career, coping with grief and supporting husband Kenny through his shock cancer diagnosis

- By Gemma Calvert

In her first TV job in the mid-90s, Gabby Logan hosted a showbiz strand for Tyne Tees Television, interviewing local celebrities in a restaurant of their choice. Thirty years on, what star would she most like to invite to dinner for some delve-deep dialogue? 'I'd take out Oprah Winfrey,' says Gabby, recalling how 11 years ago, she and her retired Scotland rugby international husband Kenny Logan bumped into the American talkshow host - her 'broadcasting hero' - at London eatery The River Cafe. 'As she walked past our table, Kenny touched her wrist and said, "My wife absolutely loves you." She got hold of my hand, pulled it to her heart, looked me in the eye and went, "And I love you!" I was definitely star-struck!'

Describing another pinch-me moment - her television interview with Usain Bolt in 2013 - Gabby says that she was so dazzled by the now-retired Jamaican sprinter, she became uncharacteristically tongue-tied when they were introduced. 'Off camera, I didn't put my sentences together particularly well,' she smiles. 'He must have thought, "What is this crazy woman talking about?"

Gabby's honesty recalling life's most eventful moments is what makes her debut memoir, The First Half, so compelling. As well as the highs, she details raw, heartbreaking experiences, including the sudden death of her 15-year-old brother Daniel in 1992, plus the subsequent alcoholism of her father Terry Yorath (a former Welsh professional footballer). The book candidly lays bare her biggest life tests and lessons.