TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine has revealed that a seemingly minor fall from his six-foot-tall penny-farthing bicycle led to the discovery of a heart condition, ultimately prompting significant lifestyle changes. The incident occurred two years ago near his home, and while the crash itself was frightening, the subsequent hospital scans uncovered a small calcification in his heart.
Accident Leads to Unexpected Discovery
Recounting the accident, the BBC Radio 2 presenter and host of Channel 5's Jeremy Vine said: "Stupidly, I went over some grass and there was a divot and I flew over the handlebars and thought, 'I'm not going to survive this.' I was knocked out, but I didn't suffer any great long-term effect." However, the visit to A&E proved more revealing. "They gave me all these scans and said, 'The only thing you need to worry about is that you've got a tiny bit of calcification in your heart,'" he explained. "It's the classic thing where someone has an accident and then you discover something else. So I then thought, I'm going to look after myself a bit better."
Lifestyle Changes and New Habits
Since the discovery, Vine, who turned 60 last year, has become more diligent about his health. "I started taking statins, lifting weights and being more serious about cycling to work. It's weird, isn't it, if falling off my penny farthing has given me an extra 10 years of life," he remarked. He also tries to give up chocolate, though he admits it is difficult. "If I go to Pizza Express I would probably order a salad. Is that bad? It'll probably buy me an extra day or two. But if I get to about 82, I'm having pizza every day."
New Crime Novel: Turn The Dial For Death
In between his broadcasting work, Vine has written Turn The Dial For Death, the second mystery in his cosy crime series featuring radio host-turned amateur sleuth Edward Temmis. The story opens with a doctor found dead in the woods, shot through the heart with a crossbow, and weaves in themes of radiation poisoning, coercive control, and the death of a child. The idyllic setting in Sidmouth, Devon, where Vine spent many happy summers with his wife Rachel Schofield and their two daughters, provides the backdrop. "I was always thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great to have a decent murder here?'" he said.
Embracing the 'Cosy Crime' Genre
Many authors dislike the term 'cosy crime', but Vine does not mind it. "I struggled with the word 'cosy' but in the end I decided not to mind because it's a whole genre that's happened as a result of the great Richard Osman. Weirdly, I think Agatha Christie was the greatest, went out of fashion and is now back to being the greatest, and those of us who love her are so pleased there's now a demand for books like hers, by that I mean classic English whodunits."
Similarities Between Fiction and Reality
Vine acknowledges some similarity between his fictional radio host and himself. "There's a performance element, a bit of curiosity, an ability to concentrate and a shortened attention span when things aren't holding your interest. Because of the politics of the radio station, he's doing this late night talk show and he knows the listeners love it, but he never knows whether he's fully appreciated. That's not based on me at Radio 2, by the way. The bosses are always nice to me."
Personal Experiences with Crime
Vine has been a victim of crime himself, having been beaten up as a student and stalked. These days, he limits his social media use. "I maybe tweet twice a day whereas I used to tweet 30 times a day. I'm on Instagram much more which is a lot more holistic and a lot more gentle. One of my listeners called up and said that social media is the new asbestos. I thought, that's a brilliant line. It just ends up with lots of people insulting each other. It's basically replaced fighting in pubs, as far as I can tell."
Balancing Broadcasting and Writing
With his radio and TV work, Vine must stay current with affairs, which occasionally leads to mix-ups. "The classic is where you have two guests who are roughly the same age, maybe two 30-year-old women or 60-year-old men and you don't know which one is which and you've got two names." He also recalls a guest who appeared on the Today programme by mistake, playing a tune with his armpit when he was meant to discuss the Asian fresh food market. "He went along with it."
Interviews with Politicians
Vine sometimes gets nervous interviewing senior politicians, which he considers a good thing. He recalls meeting Rachel Reeves when she was Shadow Chancellor: "The offer from the Shadow Treasury team was that she would come in and play me a game of chess, because she was a teenage chess prodigy. So I had this strange thing of playing chess with Rachel Reeves in the studio. She was pretty amazing. She completely smashed me." Recently, Reeves returned to the studio, and Vine wondered if she would be broken by government, but "she looked to be in really good spirits."
Writing Routine and Future Plans
Vine wakes daily at 4:30am to write 400 words before work. "The classic piece of advice that Richard Osman gave me is to write something every day, so you're always pushing forward." He has had approaches for TV adaptations of his crime novels, but funding challenges persist. "Some producers have knocked the first book into a TV script which they are trying to sell. But TV at the moment is cash-strapped so that means I think we'll be fishing around for a while – but I think it will happen. We did have a really firm offer last year, then that fell through, so I've learned not to really trust in it." For now, he has no plans to slow down. "I just love what I do – and when you love what you do, it's quite easy."
Turn The Dial For Death by Jeremy Vine is published by HarperCollins, priced £20. Available now.
