When the bongs have finished, Trevor McDonald winds down on the tennis court
Tennis has become a focal point of my week. It is terribly, terribly nice on a Saturday morning, especially if I’ve had a heavy week, to be able to go out and hit something. Playing an extremely vigorous game of tennis, preferably men’s doubles, for two hours becomes more and more indispensable as the stress gets greater.
I play at the David Lloyd centre in Heston, indoors, so I never miss a game because of the weather. I play in a regular four, usually including my editor-in-chief, Richard Tait, and we are all terribly enthusiastic. I have also played occasionally with Martyn Lewis and Jonathan Dimbleby.
The Saturday morning games are very competitive. It matters who wins: pride is at stake. The loser is always first at the bar afterwards and the lovely thing is that we manage not to talk about work. We usually discuss football or skiing or holidays.
Three months ago, I started learning to play piano and it’s amazing how absorbing myself in something so different from what I do washes out everything else from my mind. Playing piano is not something you can give half your attention to.
Trevor McDonald is presenter of ITN’s ‘News at Ten’. He was talking to Pamela Coleman