Life and times

Breakfast-tv anchor Sarah-jane Mee

THE RECENT RECORD-BREAKING temperatures got me thinking about digging my golf clubs out of the cupboard. It’s the one sport I never really ‘got’, but my friend Zoe, who loves it, made me take it up. On the course last week, she reminded me of my enthusiasm the first time we played together in a tournament. That day, as I walked down to the green after my approach shot, she and some friends zoomed past in a golf buggy and said, ‘SJ, what are you here for?’ and I punched the air and replied, ‘To win!’ They meant how many shots had I taken to reach the green, of course, and I’ve never lived it down. Though I still think mine was a better answer. What is sport without a bit of competition?

I’VE JUST RETURNED from a trip to New Orleans, where I went on a voodoo tour of St Louis Cemetery No 1. One tomb stood out from all the rest and made me realise that perhaps competitiveness isn’t just for the living. It was a huge gleaming white pyramid and when I asked whose it was, I was told it belonged to the actor Nicolas Cage. Apparently he likes the area so much that he stumped up $2 million for this eyesore, ready for his mortal remains. I was amused to learn it was the only tomb to have been struck by lightning – you can see a big mark where it was hit.

As we left the cemetery, the guide explained that it’s voodoo tradition to walk out backwards (so the spirits can see you aren’t speaking ill of them) and blow them a goodwill kiss with your right hand. Perhaps Mr Cage hadn’t got the message.

I’M LOOKING FORWARD to a big summer of sport. Like most fans, I can only watch and dream of competing at pro level, but I was reminded recently at a Women’s Sport Trust event of my own attempt to dabble in elite sport. The Tour de France began in Yorkshire in 2014, so Sky Sports invited me to take part in a series called Riding the Dales. In just eight weeks I had to go from zero to cycling the first 118-mile leg of the race in Yorkshire as a complete amateur.

During the Women’s Sport Trust event, a young woman came up to me with her mother and said how much I’d inspired her to get on a bike. But her mum looked at me and added, ‘Apart from that bit where you flew over the handlebars and landed on your face – it put me right off.’ I did get straight back in the saddle then. Still, I think I’ll stick to just watching this summer.

I MEET ACTORS and sports stars through my work as a television presenter, but the people I’m most in awe of are those I meet at ceremonies like the NHS Heroes Awards, which I attended recently. It was particularly emotional as that week I’d spent time with my best friend Marianna at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, waiting for her two-month-old, Mikey, my godson, to come out of emergency surgery. It went well but he might be in the hospital for weeks, maybe months. The tireless work and compassion of the staff there cannot be put into words, and the vast majority of NHS staff will never get an award.

Sarah-jane Mee is a former Sky Sports presenter. She now anchors Sunrise, Monday to Thursday, 6-10am, on

Sky News

In just eight weeks I had to go from zero to cycling the first 118-mile leg of the Tour de France