Michael Mosley’s “genius” has been remembered in a special BBC Radio 4 programme airing the last interview conducted by the late TV doctor.
Doctor and broadcaster Chris van Tulleken introduced the interview on There’s Only One Michael Mosley, which aired a conversation between Mosley and Professor Paul Bloom recorded at the Hay Festival on May 25th.
Mosley, who is credited with popularising the 5:2 diet, died aged 67 of natural causes last week after he went missing on the Greek island of Symi.
Van Tulleken, who worked with Mosley as part of Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, said in the programme: “As you’re listening to Michael (in the interview), I want you to reflect on his style, dryly witty, modest, humble.
“This style disguises that he is one of the most important broadcasters of recent decades.
“Before Michael, doctors in white coats told you how to live from their ivory towers, Michael’s genius was to make himself the patient and the guinea pig in a way that’s utterly relatable.
“We’ll never forget him infecting himself with a tapeworm, or having a camera put up his back passage, all for our benefit.
“And he’s the reason that so many programmes on radio and television have adopted this style.
A short clip from Michael Mosley's last interview, How to Live a Good Life, with Professor Paul Bloom is Michael at his best - full of warmth, insight and enjoying his time with the Hay Festival audience.
There's Only One Michael Mosley | Listen on BBC Sounds… pic.twitter.com/9ZSmMtl8YP— BBC Radio 4 (@BBCRadio4) June 14, 2024
“He’s the reason that I’ve adopted this style.”
Paying tribute to Mosley, van Tulleken called him “humble kind, and above all generous”.
He added: “Michael’s death has moved so many of us, so really I’m speaking for lots of television and audio presenters and producers.
“His legacy is going to live on in our memories, every time we brush our teeth standing on one leg, we fast a little longer between meals, we build up our strength with squats or, do any one of the other hundreds of tricks that he taught us.
“I’ll miss him as a friend and as a mentor. But perhaps, most of all, I’ll miss him as a broadcaster.”
At the end of Mosley’s interview with Professor Bloom he summarised his advice when it came to living a good life, which is what their conversation was about.
He said: “Find contrast, something sweet followed by something sour, something which is pleasurable, something which is perhaps a little bit painful.
“Lose yourself, get into the flow, get out of your head.
“Look for satisfaction rather than happiness. Accept suffering, embrace suffering, even.
“And finally, and last, but for you most important of all, is to know yourself.”
Broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Mosley was found on Sunday in a rocky area near Agia Marina beach.
There’s Only One Michael Mosley, which included the interview How To Live A Good Life, aired on BBC Radio 4 on Friday at 11am and is available on BBC Sounds.
A TV special titled, Michael Mosley: The Doctor Who Changed Britain, is set to air on BBC One at 8pm Friday in his memory.
