Clive Anderson: ‘I’m a low achiever who does virtually nothing with his time’

How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Clive Anderson 

6.30am

I know this will annoy readers, but I do get up early. It’s partially due to Ailsa, my Glen of Imaal terrier, and also to do with getting older. I’m actually a low achiever who wakes up very early and does virtually nothing with his time.

7am

I walk the dog on Highbury Fields, near where I live.

8am

Home for a healthy breakfast followed by an unhealthy one – porridge, fruit and yoghurt, then afterwards toast and marmalade.

9am

Another dog walk. This time, I’ll pick up papers, a coffee and chat to other dog owners.

10.30am

My work and personal life have never been divvied up tidily. At one time I was working as a barrister in the week and recording TV shows [including Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more] at weekends. It’s not that I’m all work and no play – there was a big element of fun to making those programmes.

I used to do my Radio 4 show Loose Ends on a Saturday, but that’s now pre-recorded. If it’s not a match day [Anderson is an Arsenal fan], I’ll go to an exhibition, such as the British Museum’s Legion: Life in the Roman Army, with my wife Jane [a physician]. I love London and its history. I’m currently taking my podcast, My Seven Wonders, on a national tour. I think the London Underground is one of my wonders of the world.

1pm

I may have a friend over for lunch and then we’ll go to an afternoon Arsenal match, or sometimes I take one of my kids [he and Jane have three children, Isabella, Flora and Ed, all in their 30s]. Stadiums are much more comfortable and safe than they used to be, but there was a joy in watching people play on a mixture of mud and sand as opposed to a manicured pitch.

3pm

Kick-off. I live a short stroll away and have been going for donkey’s years. I enjoy women’s football too – I notice that the crowd is slightly more generously spirited.

7pm

Some weeks I can have two shows to see relating to people I’m interviewing. The joy of going in work mode is that tickets are free! I recently saw Player Kings with Sir Ian McKellen, who is still doing dynamic acting in his 80s. Sometimes we go to dinner parties on our friendly street.

1am

I think it looks bad if a dinner party ends before midnight. I then faff around before bed – and try to avoid going down rabbit holes on the internet – because I find it hard to get to sleep. At the moment I’m reading Armistead Maupin’s Mona of the Manor (because I’m due to interview him).

As told to Louise Burke