On the day Blue Peter turns 60 my twin boys will be born

FOR four years in the mid-1990s, Tim Vincent was an instantly-recognisable figure. As the up-foranything presenter of Blue Peter (“the Swiss Army knife of Blue Peter presenters”, as he calls himself, “someone who can turn his hand to anything”) he was effectively the face of Children’s BBC… but 20 years and a new career in America later, he didn’t expect that legacy to impact on his love life.

Last October, Tim, then 44 and single, logged on to a dating app and created a profile. The very first person who messaged him asked whether the real Tim Vincent would mind that he was using his picture. “I pointed out that I was the real Tim Vincent,” he says.

If that particular romance was not to be, it didn’t take long for Tim’s fortunes to change dramatically.

“Within a week I was contacted by someone called Gemma Charles who lived near me. We arranged to meet the following week and she kept me waiting 45 minutes – although I must admit I’d arrived 15 minutes early,” he says.

“She’s half-Moroccan, halfGrenadian and stunningly beautiful. She’s very clever: she did a law degree. She’s worked as a TV producer. And she’s very funny.

“I wouldn’t list on the app what I was looking for in a partner but if I had a sense of humour would have been top of the list. She’s 10 years younger than me but that wasn’t an issue for me and it didn’t seem to be for her.”

Within a few weeks, Tim had to fly to Singapore and then New York to film interviews with the cast of Downton Abbey to tie in with The Exhibition, an interactive tour of the show across the US and Far East.

“Gemma suggested she could come over and join me in America. I didn’t hesitate but then we were very much falling in love. In fact I extended my stay there so we could have some time together without me having to work.”

If it sounds like a whirlwind romance, things quickly took an even more dramatic turn. Upon arriving home the loved-up couple discovered Gemma was pregnant. “It was planned,” he insists now. “In fact, we talked about children on our very first date.

“I’m an only child and I think my mum had resigned herself to the fact she was never going to have grandchildren.”

Tim reveals that not only is he to become a father for the first time but that he and Gemma are expecting twin boys. He is caught between elation and apprehension. “I’m excited but I know it’s going to be hard work,” he says.