Jeremy Vine: "Once you put your views on the table, you become much less interesting as a presenter"

I’m not going to boast about what I thought was a sexy TV but most likely isn’t – it’s probably got a cathode ray tube and is about 20 years out of date. But I have recently got a sexy clock and that’s just above the TV. It has a digital interface but it shows cogs, gears and levers that look real. To the right of the TV, there’s a little fire, which obviously isn’t lit at the moment.

You hosted Eggheads and now Celebrity Puzzling. Do you like a quiz?

I have a real interest in TV quizzes. There must be 1,000 episodes of Eggheads [he presented around 1,200] and they’ll still be showing them when I’m long dead. Whenever there’s a new quiz on, I always watch it.

You don't just watch, you also partake?

I was on Pointless with Jo Whiley and, to my surprise, we actually won. I’ve still got the trophy at home. I was on Rhod Gilbert’s Growing Pains with James Acaster and I’ve got the trophy for that on my desk at ITN. Recently, I was on Catchphrase. I was also on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with my brother, Tim [Vine, the stand-up comedian].

How was that?

You always remember the question you were knocked out on. It was: “What does the D in Dwight D Eisenhower stand for?” Which I think is quite a difficult question. One of the options was David, as in Camp David, and another option was Donald. Tim said, “I know this – it’s Donald, Eisenhower was named after Donald Duck.” It was, of course, completely wrong… The D stands for David. Later, I asked Tim why he said that and he said, “Because it was funny.”

Have you spoken to him since?

He’s my brother; I have to speak to him. He was on The Weakest Link on Christmas Day – there were 15 Vines sitting around at home and he said, “Don’t watch it, don’t watch it!” So we watched it. The first question he got was: “What orange vegetable has a name that sounds like a property of gold?” You know what he said? Swede.

You took over on Radio 2 from the legendary Jimmy Young. Does that heritage weigh heavily?

Well, we moved offices recently and under a desk, someone discovered a massive bronze bust of Jimmy Young. There were all these 25-year-old producers and no one knew who it was. I thought, “I have to rescue this bust.” So now it’s at home in my kitchen.

On your Radio 2 and Channel 5 shows you often have heated debates. What’s the biggest divide in Britain today?

I think the main one is generational. I have a listener who rings up – he’s 80 years old – and he says that the reason young people can’t buy a house is because they spend all their time in Paris. Then a young person rings up and says, “We’re having experiences because we can’t afford a house.”

How do you remain impartial?

It’s the best job in the world, doing Radio 2 and 5, and the price of the ticket is that I don’t express my views. There’s a cadre of presenters and you know what their views are on everything. But once you start to put your views on the table, you become much less interesting as a presenter. I’m there to facilitate.

At 59, you got your first tattoo — half of a Smiths lyric, shared with your daughter, Anna. Any plans for more?

I don’t like them when they’re bitty and I think getting another would diminish the first one. Then again, I’ve got two daughters and if the second one said to me, “Can I have my half-and-half with you?” I’d have to say yes, of course. At the moment though, I’m going to stick with this one. I mean, it’s a Smiths’ lyric chosen by an 18-year-old. What about that?!

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Celebrity Puzzling will premiere on 5 on Monday 23rd June at 7pm, followed by new episodes on the following weeknights.

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