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Jeremy Vine

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For the eponymous TV programme broadcast on Channel 5, see Jeremy Vine (TV programme).

Jeremy Vine
Vine in 2016
Born
Jeremy Guy Vine

Cheam, London, England
EducationEpsom College
Alma materHatfield College, Durham
Years active1987–present
Employer(s)BBC, Channel 5
Known forJournalist, TV and radio presenter
Television
Spouses
Janelle Muntz
​
​
(m. 1992; div. 2000)​
​
(m. 2002)​
Children2
RelativesTim Vine (brother)
Websitejeremyvine.tv

Jeremy Vine is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popular music.

Vine is also the host of the Channel 5 (formerly BBC Two) quiz programme Eggheads, taking over from former host Dermot Murnaghan full-time in 2014. In 2015, he was a contestant on the 13th series of Strictly Come Dancing. Since September 2018, he has presented a Channel 5 weekday current-affairs show, Jeremy Vine.

Early life and education

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Vine was born in Cheam, London. He is the elder son of Guy Vine (1937–2018),[1] lecturer in civil engineering at North East Surrey College of Technology, and Diana (née Tillett), who was a housewife and later a doctor's receptionist.[2][3] Vine has two siblings; a sister called Sonya and a brother, Tim.[2]

Vine was privately educated: at Lynton Preparatory School in Ewell, then Aberdour School in Burgh Heath, and then Epsom College.[4]

He played the drums in a band called The Flared Generation, of which his brother Tim was also a member; Smash Hits magazine described them as "the most unfashionable punk band in the country".[5]

At Durham University (Hatfield College), he graduated with a 2:2 undergraduate degree in English.[4] He was a member of the sketch comedy group, The Durham Revue,[6] and was an editor of the student newspaper, Palatinate.[4]

Following a short stint on Metro Radio,[4] Vine enrolled in a journalism training course with the Coventry Evening Telegraph,[7] before joining the BBC in 1987.[8]

Broadcasting career

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Vine interviewing Ford Ennals at the 2010 Radio Festival

Vine's career at the BBC included reading the news on the radio in Northern Ireland and working as a researcher on the BBC1 series Heart of the Matter. In 1989, he became a regular reporter on the BBC Radio 4 programme Today, filing reports from across Europe.

While working for Today, he published two comic novels set amidst the modern Church of England, including Forget Heaven, Just Kiss Me (1992) and The Whole World in My Hands (1993). Vine now regards them as juvenilia.[9]

In the mid-1990s, Vine became familiar to BBC TV viewers as a political reporter, which included reporting on the ascent of New Labour under Tony Blair. He later made his mark offering irreverent reports on the 1997 General Election.

Following the 1997 election, Vine became the Africa Correspondent based in Johannesburg, travelling across Africa. Reporting assignments took him to the war front to report on the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, the Angolan Civil War, the violence in Lesotho after South African troops went in and hoisted a South African flag over the Royal Palace, following leadership disputes. He also travelled to Algiers and Kenya, to report during political elections.

Vine was successful in gaining interviews with key leaders in various African nations, including the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, and the leader of the Islamist regime in Khartoum, Sudan. Other areas of Africa from which he has reported include Mali, Zambia, Sierra Leone and the Niger Delta (to report on the Nigerian villagers' unrest over the work of the oil companies).[10]

In April 1999, Vine presented an exclusive report on South African police brutality for BBC Two's Newsnight. The film won the Silver Nymph at the Monte Carlo Television Festival and resulted in the suspension of 22 police officers. In July 1999, the BBC announced that Vine was joining Newsnight full-time as a co-presenter, having stood in for Jeremy Paxman over the two previous summers.[11] Paxman was reported to have called Vine "mini-me", a reference to the diminutive associate of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers film series.[12]

Vine was one of the original presenters of Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4 and presented The Politics Show on BBC One from its launch in 2003 until Jon Sopel took over in 2005.

In May 2006, Vine was announced as Peter Snow's replacement for presenting the BBC election graphics, including the famous Swingometer. His performance on the night of the council elections in England and Wales on 30 April 2008 was widely criticised.[13]

From 2007 until 2009, Vine co-presented the Teaching Awards with Kate Thornton (2007), Myleene Klass (2008) and Christine Lampard (2009).

Between 2007 and 2010, Vine was the presenter of the BBC's flagship and the world's oldest current affairs programme, Panorama, which coincided with the show's move back to a Monday peak-time slot.

From 2008 to 2018,[14] Vine presented Points of View, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan. On 6 October 2008, he started hosting the former BBC Two quiz show Eggheads while the spin-off show, Are You an Egghead?, was presented by the regular host, Dermot Murnaghan. Once the spin-off show had finished, Vine continued to host the second half of each series, with Murnaghan hosting the first half. In Series 16, it was announced that Vine had become the sole presenter. As of 2014, Vine also hosted the spin-off series Revenge of the Egghead. The series ran for a 6-week period, between 24 February and 4 April 2014. On 12 March 2021, it was announced that after 18 years at the BBC, the programme would be moving to Channel 5, and Vine was to continue as host of the show.[15] From 2016 to 2017, Vine co-presented Crimewatch with Tina Daheley.[16]

In September 2018, Vine replaced Matthew Wright as the presenter of Channel 5's weekday morning current affairs show, formerly called The Wright Stuff. The show's name has now changed to Jeremy Vine.[17] Vine said he would continue to present his Radio 2 weekday lunchtime programme.[18] In March 2021, it was announced that Eggheads would be joining his morning current affairs/phone-in show as a programme broadcast on Channel 5, after the BBC put the quiz on hiatus.[19]

BBC Radio 2

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Vine presents the 2008 Radio Festival

On 6 January 2003, after several stints as a stand-in for Jimmy Young on BBC Radio 2, Vine took over the weekday lunchtime show on a regular basis. The show consists of a mix of news-based discussions, including views from listeners, interspersed with popular music. After Vine took over the hosting duties, the show was revamped. While the regular Thursday food slot was dropped, the Monday health and Friday legal advice slots were retooled.

Monday's The Health and Wellbeing Hour included either general practitioner Sarah Jarvis or Rabbi Julia Neuberger, while Friday's Your Money and Your Life, involves a variety of contributors, most frequently Martin Lewis. Since 2003, Friday's shows have frequently included a link-up to Rhondda gardener Terry Walton.[20][21] For four years, until October 2006, Lucy Berry served as the show's in-house poet.[22][23]

Strictly Come Dancing

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On 10 August 2015, Vine was the first celebrity to be announced as taking part in the thirteenth series of the popular BBC One competition Strictly Come Dancing.[24] Vine was partnered with professional, Karen Clifton. On the fourth week of the contest, after Vine danced a jive to Bobby Darin’s "Splish Splash", Bruno Tonioli described him as a "Peculiar, off-the-wall artist like Tracey Emin", and Craig Revel Horwood compared him to "a stork that had been struck by lightning."

In week eight of the show he was in the dance-off, alongside Jamelia, and voted out of the show; finishing in ninth place.[25] He also took part in the 2017 Christmas special with the same partner.

Controversies

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It was revealed on 4 February 2015 that Vine received a five-figure sum for a post-dinner speech at a £250-a-head banquet organised by ADS Group, the trade organisation that represents defence and security industries in the UK, and attended by global arms manufacturers. Campaign Against Arms Trade lodged a formal complaint with the BBC, claiming a conflict for the organisation appearing to support an industry which "profits from dictatorships which silence and suppress debate". This prompted a BBC response saying: "Jeremy is a freelance presenter and so can make personal appearances without speaking on behalf of the BBC, as he did here."[26]

In January 2018, Vine was one of six male BBC presenters who voluntarily took a pay cut when the gap between men's and women's pay at the BBC was revealed.[27]

In December 2018, Vine apologised after a tweet suggested people in Wales should speak English. The tweet was deleted after Vine said that the tweet had been taken out of context and that he was talking about a caller to his show who had complained about Welsh people not talking in English in the pubs.[28]

In October 2019, the journalist Samira Ahmed brought legal proceedings against the BBC under the Equal Pay Act. Key evidence cited in the case revealed that Vine had initially been paid £3,000 (later reduced to £1,300) per episode for presenting Points of View at a time when Ahmed had been paid £440 an episode for presenting Newswatch, a similarly formatted show. The differential was defended in part by a BBC executive referring to Vine having had a "glint in his eye" and a "cheeky" and light-hearted presentation style.[29] The London Central Employment Tribunal unanimously found in Ahmed's favour on 10 January 2020. There was no suggestion that Vine was involved in Ahmed being underpaid.[30]

On 25 May 2023, a post from the "Jeremy Vine on 5" Twitter account asked if it was "time to crack down" on sick people claiming out-of-work benefits. The tweet was criticised by disability campaigners who accused it of "trolling" and "demonising" sick people. The tweet was later deleted.[31]

Personal life

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Vine was married to an American banker, Janelle Muntz,[32] for seven years, which ended in 2000. Vine stated that it was "very sad", but their jobs and travel meant they had "seen very little" of each other in three years.[33] He married Rachel Schofield, a journalist and news presenter, in 2002.[34] The couple have two daughters.[35]

Vine is the patron of Radio St Helier, a UK‐registered charity providing radio programmes to patients at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton.[36]

Vine is a practising Anglican and attends church. He has deplored what he sees as the marginalisation of Christians in British society, saying that "You can't express views that were common currency 30 or 40 years ago".[37]

In August 2016, a car driver threatened and was abusive to Vine while he was cycling along Hornton Street in Kensington, London. Vine captured the encounter on his helmet camera, later broadcasting it on YouTube where it was viewed several million times. Vine also reported it to the police. On 18 April 2017, the car driver was jailed for nine months for threatening behaviour. At the time of the incident, she was subject to a suspended sentence for various other offences.[38]

In October 2021, anti-vaccine campaigners protested outside Vine's home, objecting to the BBC's coverage of COVID-19 vaccines.[39] As Vine was not at home at the time, they presented their "anti-vaxx writ", a document without legal authority, to his wife. He later posted videos of the incident online. Vine has said he contracted COVID-19 and commented on receiving the vaccine.[39][40]

In February 2022, Vine was "knocked out cold for a minute or two" after falling 8 ft (2.4 m), onto grass, from his penny-farthing bicycle. He was taken to Charing Cross Hospital where doctors told him he was "lucky to have just a black eye and some aches from the fall".[41]

In August 2022, Alex Belfield, a former BBC Radio Leeds presenter and the host of YouTube channel "Alex Belfield - The Voice of Reason", was convicted at Nottingham Crown Court of stalking Vine and three others.[42] Vine described Belfield as "the Jimmy Savile of trolling", and said he had been subjected to an "avalanche of hatred" and a "constant bombardment" of harassing tweets and YouTube videos. Vine also told the court that he feared Belfield or one of his followers would go to his home, which led him to putting a picture up of Belfield so that his family could recognise him. Vine also sued Belfield for defamation.[43] The next month, on 16 September, Belfield was sentenced. The "simple stalking" element relating to the case involving Vine resulted in a sentence of thirteen weeks; this was added to the other sentences to provide an overall sentence of five-and-a-half years.[44]

In May 2024, judge Mrs Justice Steyn in the High Court ruled in favour of Vine, who had sued former footballer Joey Barton for libel over posts on Twitter; 11 of the 14 cited tweets were found to be defamatory. Barton had repeatedly called Vine a "bike nonce", a vulgar British term for a paedophile, and had falsely associated Vine with paedophiles including Jimmy Savile and Jeffrey Epstein.[45]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Channel
1999–2002 Newsnight Presenter BBC Two

BBC News

2015, 2018 Strictly Come Dancing Contestant BBC One
2003–05 The Politics Show Presenter
2005–06 This Week Reporter
2007–15 Panorama Presenter
2008–18 Points of View
2008–present Eggheads BBC Two 2008–2020

Channel 5 2021–present

2015–18 Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two Himself BBC Two
2016 Peter Pan Goes Wrong Eggheads host BBC One
2016–17 Crimewatch Presenter
2017–18 The One Show
2018–present Jeremy Vine Channel 5
2019 Quizmaster ITV
2021 Celebrity Gogglebox Himself; alongside Snoochie Shy Channel 4

Radio

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Year Title Role Station
2003–present Jeremy Vine Presenter BBC Radio 2
2024 Money Gone himself BBC Radio 4 drama

Awards and honours

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Vine was named Speech Broadcaster of the Year at the 2005 and 2011 Sony Awards. At the latter, the 2010 election interview with Gordon Brown, in which the then-Prime Minister put his head in his hands as he was played the recording of him calling a voter a bigot, won Vine the Sony Award for Interview of the Year.[46][47]

Bibliography

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  • Forget Heaven, Just Kiss Me. Hodder & Stoughton. 1993. ISBN 978-0340589854
  • The Whole World in My Hands. Hodder & Stoughton. 1994. ISBN 978-0340612415
  • It's All News to Me. Simon & Schuster. 2013. ISBN 978-1849837774
  • What I Learnt: What My Listeners Say – and Why We Should Take Notice. W&N. 2017. ISBN 978-1474604925

References

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  1. ^ Joseph, Shanique (24 August 2018). "Jeremy Vine: BBC Radio 2 host shares emotional message following father's tragic death".
  2. ^ a b Hassell, Katherine (11 September 2015). "Jeremy Vine: my family values". The Guardian.
  3. ^ "Family detective: Jeremy Vine". The Daily Telegraph. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d Jonathan Sale (22 October 2009). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of broadcaster Jeremy Vine". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Jeremy and Tim Vine's pop-punk past revealed". yourlocalguardian.co.uk. 5 July 2012. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  6. ^ "The Durham Revue reunion - 45 years of laughter!". Durham University - Student Blogs. 19 July 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Jeremy Vine Celebrity Dinner" (PDF). Birmingham Press Club. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2012.
  8. ^ Gibbons, Duncan (8 November 2017). "Revealed: When Jeremy Vine worked at the Coventry Evening Telegraph". CoventryLive. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  9. ^ Moss, Stephen (1 June 2020). "Jeremy Vine: 'At the BBC you can have values but you can't have views – that's how I operate'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  10. ^ "BBC Radio 2 - Jeremy Vine - Jeremy Vine". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  11. ^ Gibson, Janine (12 July 1999). "Vine's Newsnight job makes him Paxman's heir apparent". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  12. ^ Tweedie, Neil (30 April 2008). "Jeremy Vine: 'Being treated badly once in your career is a good thing'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  13. ^ Martin, Nicole (2 May 2008). "Jeremy Vine's cowboy antics come under fire". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008.
  14. ^ "Jeremy Vine to leave Points of View". BBC Media Centre. 1 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  15. ^ Earp, Catherine (12 March 2021). "Eggheads is moving to Channel 5 after 18 years on BBC". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Jeremy Vine and Tina Daheley to host Crimewatch". RadioToday. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  17. ^ "Jeremy Vine to replace Matthew Wright". BBC News. 11 June 2018.
  18. ^ "Jeremy Vine joins Channel 5 for a daily current affairs show". Channel 5. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  19. ^ "EGGHEADS MOVES TO CHANNEL 5". TVZoneUK. 12 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Jeremy Vine and Terry Walton on the Radio 2 allotment". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
  21. ^ "Jeremy Vine – Meet the Team". BBC Radio 2. Archived from the original on 28 December 2009.
  22. ^ "BBC - Radio 2 - Shows - Jeremy Vine - Poetry That Changed My Life". www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. ^ "Bookshop". Lucy Berry.
  24. ^ "Strictly Come Dancing – Jeremy Vine revealed as our first Strictly celebrity of 2015!". BBC One Blog. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 26 October 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  25. ^ "Jeremy Vine: Strictly Come Dancing 2015 contestant". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  26. ^ Cusick, James (4 February 2015). "Jeremy Vine, the presenter leading the BBC's General Election coverage, accepts 'five-figure sum' to speak at arms trade dinner". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  27. ^ "Jeremy Vine: Pay cut is 'a no-brainer'". BBC News.
  28. ^ Davies, Gareth (30 December 2018). "Jeremy Vine criticised over attitude to Welsh language". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  29. ^ Mohdin, Aamna (7 November 2019). "BBC 'deliberately failed to call key witnesses' in Samira Ahmed dispute". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  30. ^ "Samira Ahmed wins BBC equal pay tribunal". BBC News. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  31. ^ "Broadcaster's silence over 'rabblerouser' tweet on disability benefits". Disability News Service. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  32. ^ Ough, Tony (20 October 2019). "Jeremy Vine: I thought as a teen that I just wasn't cut out to be a boy". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  33. ^ Rowan, David (5 January 2003). "It's the JV prog". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  34. ^ Bond, Kimberley. "Who is Jeremy Vine's wife Rachel Schofield and how long will she be co-presenting the show for?". Evening Standard. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  35. ^ Hassell, Katherine (11 September 2015). "Jeremy Vine: my family values". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016.
  36. ^ "About us". Radio St. Helier. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  37. ^ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan (17 January 2009). "Christians are becoming social pariahs in Britain". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  38. ^ "Jeremy Vine 'road rage' driver jailed after losing appeal". BBC News. 18 April 2017. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  39. ^ a b "Jeremy Vine 'unnerved' after home targeted by anti-vaccine protesters". The Guardian. PA Media. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  40. ^ Knowles, Tom (11 October 2021). "Antivaxers target home of BBC presenter Jeremy Vine". The Times. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  41. ^ "Jeremy Vine rushed to A&E after bike fall left him 'knocked out cold'". 16 February 2022.
  42. ^ "Alex Belfield trial: Former BBC presenter found guilty of stalking". BBC News. 5 August 2022.
  43. ^ "Alex Belfield: Jeremy Vine tells stalking trial of 'avalanche of hatred'". BBC News. 13 July 2022.
  44. ^ "Alex Belfield: Former BBC presenter jailed for stalking". BBC News. 16 September 2022.
  45. ^ Stavrou, Athena (25 May 2024). "Joey Barton calling Jeremy Vine 'bike n***e' had defamatory meaning, judge rules". The Independent. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  46. ^ "Danny Baker wins Speech Radio Personality of the Year award". The Times. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  47. ^ "Indie DJ wins hat-trick at Sony awards". TheGuardian.com. 10 May 2005. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
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