I always call Mum when I’m going on TV SHE LIKES TO CHECK MY HAIR!

HE’S BEST KNOWN AS THE HOST OF FAMILY FORTUNES, BUT AS HE TAKES OVER EUROPE’S BIGGEST RADIO SHOW VERNON KAY REVEALS WHY HIS MOTHER IS STILL HIS GREATEST INSPIRATION – AND WHY SHE’LL BE IN THE STUDIO WITH HIM

The listeners will come back. It’s like their best friend has left and now a new friend has arrived

sounds being married to Vernon, he’s so positive and upbeat,’ and crucially, ‘We still sit down for dinner and have so much to talk about.’

Vernon agrees. ‘We like to dine out locally and I think that’s important. Communication and doing things together are vital. When friends of mine get married, I say, “It’s going to be the toughest thing in the world, but you’ve got to talk to each other.” And when the kids come home we try to put our phones on the kitchen counter. If you’ve got a teenager who’s going through everything teenagers do, sit down with them and watch Love Island, because all life issues come out naturally and get discussed watching that show and you can work out where their values lie.’

Vernon has indeed come a long way since he worked at a banana factory at the age of 14 and then in his cousin’s DIY shop in Bolton. With his handsome features and movie star mop of dark hair, you’d think he’d be oozing self-confidence. Yet he’s a sensitive soul who’s prone to wearing his heart on his sleeve. At school he was so lacking in self-confidence that his teachers let him sit with his coat on ready to go home.

‘I was a very anxious child. I was a late developer, physically, mentally and socially,’ reveals Vernon, who shot up by 9in at the age of 17 and now stands at 6ft 4in. ‘I think I still am a bit shy and introverted. Tess calls me a little Howard Hughes because I like staying in. I don’t like the bright lights and lots of people.’

Vernon and Tess love spending family time in the privacy of their countryside home. ‘We’re very similar and both come from down-toearth Northern backgrounds – Tess is from Derbyshire – and similar careers,’ says Vernon.

The couple first met in 1999 via a TV music programme called The Phone Zone, which Vernon presented on an early BBC digital channel called UK Play. They began dating that Christmas and got engaged the following Christmas. ‘Tess had just moved back from New York. We went to a Christmas party, courtesy of the BBC, and she didn’t know anyone so we just hung out. We went on to a club and kissed on the balcony. We had a proper laugh and that was it.

‘Having the ability to just relax in each other’s company and be yourself is important. We felt really comfortable together, and talked a lot. One thing that attracted me to Tess was that she was already an established woman. She has a great work ethic and had been successful at modelling. Then she decided it was time for a change and she set this goal of being a TV presenter – and she achieved that. I thought, “There are some similarities here.”’

Vernon says they’re also both hyperactive, even at home. ‘We’re like wasps in a bottle. I do something, then tick a box too quickly and move on. Tess tells me, “You need to have more gratitude and just enjoy the moment.” And I feel I really can do that now I’m part of the Radio 2 family.’

Slice up the Edam and crack open the Moldovan red… the Eurovision Song Contest reaches its climax tonight with the grand final in Liverpool, the birthplace of pop music and home of Beatlemania.

The BBC’S pulled out all the stops to put on a glitzy spectacle as the UK co-hosts with Ukraine, whose Kalush Orchestra won in Turin last year with their song Stefania. Due to the war Ukraine can’t stage this 67th contest, so the honour has fallen to the UK as runners-up with Sam Ryder’s Space Man, as 26 countries do battle in front of 160m viewers.

The UK has hosted nine times

THE HOT TIPS

Sweden is this century’s most successful Eurovision country, finishing in the top five on 12 occasions and winning twice, and boasts six wins overall (closing in on Ireland’s record seven).

Its performer this year is

Loreen (right), who won in

Baku in 2012 with her Kate Bush-style moves and massive hit Euphoria. If she triumphs again tonight with Tattoo she will be only the second performer to win twice (the other is Ireland’s Johnny Logan), and it would mean Sweden will host next year on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’S momentous victory in Brighton.

But Finland might upset the Swedish masterplan, with a fan favourite who will no doubt do well in the public vote. Kaarija, a mop-haired chap in lime green PVC and spiky rubber trousers, performs the punky but cheesy Cha Cha Cha – and it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen on Strictly.

And we can’t dismiss Ukraine, which has a very different entry

BRITAIN’S GREAT HOPE

– more than any other country – but this year’s collaboration with Ukraine is unique. Julia Sanina, singer of Ukrainian rock band The Hardkiss, will present the show with Graham Norton (doing his usual dry commentary), BGT judge Alesha Dixon and Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham. Although the UK has five wins and has come second 16 times, it’s 26 years since we triumphed and we’ve scored ‘nul points’ twice this century. But despite this, Eurovision is cooler than ever here, largely thanks to Sam Ryder – tickets for this year’s shows sold out in 90 minutes. So for those without ringside seats, here’s what to look out for on TV... this year: Ukrainian/nigerian duo Tvorchi with Heart Of Steel, a song about bravery that was chosen in a TV contest filmed deep in a Kyiv metro station. They’re already through to the final as last year’s winners; Finland and Sweden will need to have qualified

from the semis.

Sam Ryder (right) is a very hard act to follow, but this year the UK is represented by 25-year-old Londoner Mae Muller, who has toured with Little Mix and was picked, like Sam, by music management company

TAP Music in collaboration with the BBC.

Mae (far right) will perform I Wrote A Song, an upbeat number about a broken romance that she also co-wrote.

Mae is 26th in the running order, so will be the last of the contestants to hit the stage tonight – a risky draw if Euro-fatigued viewers have already sloped off to make a cuppa, but at least the performances will finish on a patriotic note. Can she go One Step Further (Bardo finished seventh in 1982 with that one) than Sam?