Blunt: I started a meat-only diet to annoy vegetarians ... then got scurvy
SINGER James Blunt has revealed that he was diagnosed with scurvy after going on a meat-only diet out of ‘principle’ to annoy his vegan friends.
The 46-year-old, best known for his songs You’re Beautiful and goodbye My Lover, said he became a ‘carnivore’ for two months at university because he was surrounded by vegetarians and vegans.
He said he ate ‘mince and some chicken’ for eight weeks before being diagnosed with scurvy.
Symptoms of the disease include weakness, tiredness and sore arms and legs. It is normally associated with sailors and pirates.
Blunt, who was studying aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology at Bristol University,
‘I just lived on mince and chicken’
told the Table Manners podcast: ‘On the engineering side there were 170 men and only three girls. And then on the sociology side of things there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarians or vegans.
‘So out of principle I decided I’d become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe with some mayonnaise.
‘And it took me about six to eight weeks to get very very unhealthy, see a doctor, who then said “I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy”.
‘Anyway, he said you are really lacking in vitamin C so I took it upon myself to drink a litre of orange juice every night – then I nearly developed acid reflux.’
The father- of-two also revealed that three members of his band have married people who were in the audiences at their gigs.
He said: ‘Three of my band members have married people from the audience. Amazing – isn’t that incredible? Two from Perth in Australia from two different tours and one from Copenhagen.
‘The girl from Copenhagen was told she was being taken to a James Bond premiere and was obviously devastated when she saw the sign saying James Blunt. She came backstage and the rest is history.’