Wimbledon icon Sue Barker's scolding after setting BBC studio alight

Even a Wimbledon legend like Sue Barker sometimes slips up. And one unfortunate incident meant the tennis icon was nearly responsible for burning down the BBC media centre at SW19.

The former French Open champion became synonymous with the Wimbledon Championships after fronting coverage of the Grand Slam for almost 30 years. Barker, 69, is held in the highest esteem at the All England Club but came close to seeing her reputation reduced to ash one year. She made the revelation in her 2024 book, Wimbledon: A Personal History, which gives her account of the major, from competing as a junior to hanging up her mic more than half a century later. And as the 2025 Wimbledon Championships get underway on Monday, her old production team will be hoping to avoid any such close calls this year.

While heaping praise on Martina Navratilova, Barker revealed how the incident unfolded. "I was always grateful that she, like Chrissie [Evert] and Tracy [Austin], would pop into the BBC studio as my guest," read one passage from the autobiography. "There's nothing she doesn't know about Wimbledon. She was my unfortunate guest one year when I nearly burned down the studio and possibly the whole media centre."

Barker explained how she was left scrambling to fill hours of airtime on one rainy day at SW19 when Navratilova agreed to come in and help. But it wasn't long before a bad day at the office got worse.

The beloved broadcaster went on to mention how she liked to keep rigorous research notes nearby in case she needed to refer back to them. But because bosses liked the desk to look as tidy as possible, she bundled the pages out of sight underneath, which almost led to disaster.

"As Martina and I were chatting away I suddenly saw my floor manager Liz looking worried and talking in an animated fashion to the gallery," she continued. "The next minute I heard Martin Hopkins, the producer, say, 'There's a smell of smoke in the studio'. Everyone was looking concerned.

"Martin told me to link to a VT, but the only one available was one that Martina and I had to talk over - but at least it would give Liz and the team a chance to do a sweep of the stuido. Just as Martina and I started talking over the footage, I was aware of an intense burst of heat around my legs. Flames started flickering up from under my desk. Stupidly, I had put my spare notes on top of the 'hot' lights instead of on the shelf next to them.

"There was chaos as we fanned the flames and threw the remaining notes on the floor. I still carried on commentating over the footage, slightly breathlessly, as Martina and I wrestled the flames. Liz joined in, stamping on them. One of the crew rushed in with a fire extinguisher (which wasn't needed thankfully).

"I'm pleased to say the flames were put out, but the smell of smoke lingered for some time. No one at home would have known of the drama, but we had a good laugh when finally we handed back to live coverage of Centre Court.

"My laughter soon departed when the health and safety team told me in no uncertain terms how dangerous my inadvertent action had been. And I had no excuse as I was always given a safety briefing prior to The Championships and these lights were the number one priority. Needless to say my whole studio crew were relieved when LED lighting came in."

Barker announced in 2022 that she would be stepping down as host of the BBC's Wimbledon coverage following that year's tournament. She was replaced by Clare Balding, who has teamed up with former cricketer Isa Guha to present the action from SW19 in recent years.