My Life In Media: Naomi Cleaver

Naomi Cleaver, 41, presents Channel 4's Grand Designs programming alongside Kevin McCloud. This year, she has presented Grand Designs Live and Trade Secrets. She had to be coaxed in front of the camera but now combines presenting with her day job as a designer, and writes for The Times and for interiors magazines. She lives in central London with her husband Oliver, an advertising executive, and spends a third of the year doing design work in the Caribbean.

What inspired you to embark on a career in the media?

I didn't pursue it. I was working in design, and was asked to try out for a show called Other People's Houses. I like to try new things but the interview process was excruciating. They kept putting me in empty rooms and saying: "What would you do in here?" I told them I wasn't interested. They said they wanted me to present it, and I considered it over the weekend and changed my mind.

When you were 15, which newspaper did your family get? Did you read it?

The Daily Telegraph, and my mother encouraged me to read it from the age of four. She wanted me to improve my general knowledge. I'm not sure it worked but it inspired a love of newspapers.

And what were your favourite TV and radio programmes?

I've been a fan of Radio 4 since I was 13, but I never watched a lot of TV. I loved RadioActive, Woman's Hour, Gardeners' Question Time – very old-fashioned, but I love all that stuff.

Describe your job.

Delightfully multifaceted. I just feel incredibly lucky I've got the job I always wanted. My day job is that of a designer, but it's been incredibly exciting being able to express that job through TV and writing, and even a bit of radio occasionally.

What's the first media you turn to in the morning?

The Today programme.

Do you consult any media sources during the day?

A mixture of Radio 4 and The Daily Telegraph. If I'm in my studio, I'll have Radio 4 on and listen to most things, though I find You and Yours and Moneybox Live rather turgid. I think most people do. I use the internet a lot for work. I'm often on the BBC or Telegraph websites. I've been working with T-Mobile, and they gave me some devices that make my life so much easier. If I am in the Caribbean, my colleagues in the UK can just video any detail they need to show me and send it over.

What do you tune into when you get home?

Er, Radio 4! The comedy shows at 6.30pm are really good and I tend to listen to The Archers three times. I love Ugly Betty.

What is the best thing about your job?

One discipline feeds into the other. And I get to meet so many different people.

And the worst?

Travelling to miserable parts of the country and hanging about in miserable homes, which I refuse to do any more. I won't do a Boris Johnson and say where.

How do you feel you influence the media?

I don't feel I do. That would be presumptuous. At best, I'm part of a strand of media that has broadened people's horizons in terms of how they view their homes. I think shows on property sales and development will dip with the credit crunch. On the other hand, I think interest in interior design will be sustained because we are still creatures who like to embellish our homes.

What's your proudest working achievement?

Early on in my design career, I had an agency that matched clients with architects and designers. I produced an exhibition with Crash, the construction and property industry's charity for homeless people. They collected resources to build cold-weather shelters, but didn't make a very attractive product. The better your surroundings the more balanced your emotional equilibrium, especially with vulnerable people. We matched a group of designers to construction companies and did an exhibition of cold-weather shelters using the same resources but designed in a very beautiful way.

And what's your most embarrassing moment?

After a stressful journey to Scotland for Britain's Best Home, in a tiny bus full of big personalities, I burst into tears as soon as I walked into the house we were there to see. I was just so relieved to be out of that bus, and overcome by the beauty of the house. The crew lapped it up and have used the clip more than once.

What is your Sunday paper? And do you have a favourite magazine?

The Sunday Telegraph. I subscribe to Geographic, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, The Ecologist, Elle Deco, and Frame, a Dutch design magazine.

Name a career ambition you want to realise before you retire?

To do more product design. I'm designing a range of furniture at the moment.

What would you do if you didn't work in the media?

I'd be in the Royal Engineers. I come from an army family and I like the idea of building bridges, or blowing them up, which is really what they do.

Who in the media do you most admire, and why?

Melvyn Bragg. He's done a lot to popularise high culture, and has also intellectualised popular culture without being pretentious.

The CV

1987: First design job at Fitch

1996: Sets up own design company

2001: Makes the first of two series of Other People's Houses for C4; writes for Country Life and Inside Out, among others

2003: Begins writing a column for The Daily Telegraph; presents Honey, I Ruined the House for C4 and Britain's Best Home with Sarah Beeny

2005: Moves to The Times' Bricks and Mortar section

2008: Hosts Grand Designs Live and Grand Designs Trade Secrets