Jeremy Vine

Presenter and writer Jeremy, 52, hosts his own daily BBC radio show and is about to publish a memoir,

What I Learnt. He lives in London with his wife and their two daughters.

What I Learnt isn’t your first memoir. Why the update now?

Partly, it’s to do with hitting 50 a couple of years ago, which, for me, was a time of reflection, and partly because I calculated that I was about to hit the 25,000 mark in terms of the number of calls I had taken on my radio show. The book is subtitled What My Listeners Say – And Why We Should Take Notice

because, for me, having the privilege of being able to channel the opinions, thoughts and feelings of a wide cross-section of our society has been a true education.

What has it taught you?

Among lots of things, that radio is an incredibly intimate medium in which people will tell you their deepest secrets. Recently a woman called in to talk to me about being raped at the age of 12. She was 70 and had never spoken about it to anyone before. I’ve also learnt that the biggest issue in our society right now is the generational gap – the millennials who believe the overseventies have stolen their birthright and the over-seventies who think millennials are spoiled and lazy.

And tell us, what did your 25,000th caller have to say?

Unfortunately, it was a guy who yelled the words, ‘sperm bank’ before hanging up! Live radio is unpredictable and that’s partly what I like about it.

Aside from the show, are there other topics in the book?

Absolutely. There’s quite a bit about being a father, for example, and my reflections on being 50, and of being on Strictly, which came just after that milestone birthday. Ah, Strictly. We loved you on it… Thank you, it was a brilliant experience and although I was pretty much the bookies’ favourite to be voted off first, I’m so proud I was there right up to week eight. It was largely thanks to my brilliant dance partner, Karen Clifton, who I remain friends with. I still love to dance, even if it’s just in the kitchen.

How did you celebrate your 50th?

With a wonderful party for family and friends, which included a performance of Cool For Cats by Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze. My lovely dad, who has Parkinson’s now, cornered him and said, ‘When Jeremy was 14, we went to a record shop in London so that he could buy your album the day it was released. I never knew what the fuss was about, until this evening!’

Are you still close to your folks?

Very much so. I had the privilege of growing up in a family in which my brother Tim, my sister Sonya and I were encouraged to follow our dreams. My sister became an actress, my brother is a brilliant stand-up comedian and I went into journalism. I would be happy if I was even half as good a parent as they have been.

Tell us a surprise about you…

I’m passionate about cycling and it’s my preferred way of commuting from home to work. It’s quick, cheap and means I don’t have to put myself through the gym. Mind you, one of the things I’ve learnt on my show is that cycling splits the audience like almost no other subject, apart from angling and, oh yes, lollipop ladies – should they exist or not! It’s an ideological battlefield out there, believe me.