The presenter on his fondness for Appledore and how Africa changed him
TRAVEL BECAME EYE-OPENING WHEN I WAS 24
and started working for the BBC on the programme in 1989. I covered the start of the Yugoslav civil war, where you would land at an airport and just say: “Take me to the war.” Reporters were given so much autonomy then.
GOING TO THE MIDDLE EAST FOR WORK
is something I will always be grateful for. It was an amazing thing to do in my 20s, in an era when they would just send you somewhere and worry about the budgeting later.
AS THE BBC’S AFRICA CORRESPONDENT
I went to 18 African countries. That had an incredible effect because with reporting you’re always thinking of the two words, “other lives”. The further away you get from the way you live yourself, the more interesting it is. Africa changed me because I realised that the world is far more complicated and unfair than I had ever imagined.
We branched out to Tunisia and Egypt, but I’m less intrepid with the terror dimension now
I FILMED SHOW, IN GLASGOW THE QUIZ
and it was a punishing routine of as many as 65 episodes in 14 days, shooting roughly four or five a day. We’d get one precious day off in the middle of this fortnight, and it was an incredible sensation to wake up with no shooting schedule.
THERE IS A GREAT PAINTING BY SALVADOR DALI
in the Kelvingrove Gallery, one of the Eggheads told me. So I went along and then developed a habit of going to visit it every time I had the day off. I must have looked at that painting 20 or 30 times, I became a bit obsessed by it! It opened the world of art to me, which I hadn’t really known much about and which has inspired my novel.
GLASGOW IS MY FAVOURITE CITY IN THE UK
but given that my co-presenter, Storm Huntley, is from Glasgow I’d never be forgiven if I said Edinburgh. In Glasgow, just ask the cab driver to take you to Ashton Lane. It is this little cobbled street and there’s a place called Brel, where I would eat every night if I could.
WE ARE A DIVIDED FAMILY IN TERMS OF A PERFECT HOLIDAY
because my wife wants to look at ruins, but I would be very happy with a book and a deckchair.
LAST MONTH WE WENT TO DEVON
and stayed in beautiful Appledore, which is one of my favourite places in the country. It’s also near Sidmouth, where my wife’s family is from. We mainly holiday as a family in Devon; my kids demand it. So I feel quite fortunate because I’ve failed to get them interested in skiing. They just want to have bad weather and pebbles on the beach.
THE BRITISH BEACH SCENE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED
by the wetsuit because you can now go into the sea without being cold.
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE ABROAD
was when I was 14 on a school ski trip in France. I remember I spent a week trying and failing to ski.
MY KIDS ARE NOW TEENAGERS
but 10 years ago they were of the age where if you could go somewhere sunny and beachy for a holiday, it was good. So, instead of
Jeremy Vine, below, gained fresh perspectives as a correspondent
Devon, we did once or twice branch out – to Tunisia and Egypt. Those places are difficult now with young families just because of the terror dimension. I am the opposite of a reporter when I am going on holiday with my kids. I have become much less intrepid and a little bit cautious about that stuff.
ONE DAY, ON ONE OF THE TRAVEL REPORTS ON RADIO 2 LOCKDOWN LED TO SOME STRANGE DISCOVERIES
it was announced that there was a traffic jam in Mellon Udrigle – and I asked where that was. If you look at a map, it is near Ullapool, in Scotland. Someone tweeted me later to say: “Oh, you’ve got to come here. It’s the most beautiful place”. And so the following summer, we went there for a week, and had the most wonderful experience.
including the fact that you can tour the National Gallery online – and you can even tour Japan online. None of that matches up to the real travel experience, of course, as there is no smell, taste or touch.
CHARGING PORT
Wherever I go, I need some sort of multiple charging point for phones and other appliances. I like one that can take four USBs.
SUNGLASSES
I own some Ray-Bans like these but don’t quite know how I ended up with a pair of sunglassses this fashionable.
Egypt’s temple of
JACKET
I have a very nice, all-weather jacket that works in sun and rain.
Interview by Roz Lewis
by Jeremy Vine (Coronet, £20: Hardback, ebook and audio) is out now. To book a live stream event with Jeremy, fane.co.uk/our-shows/ a-live-stream-with-jeremy-vine