An endorsement from (the late) Jeremy Beadle

I was genuinely sorry to hear this evening that Jeremy beadle had died at the age of 59.

I was always somewhat bemused by the stinging criticism Jeremy Beadle got in the press and from other TV personalities. Yes, his shows might have appealed to the a "certain" type of audience, but they did attract viewers, they were successful and whenever you delved deeper in to his background, Jeremy Beadle always struck me as being a highly intelligent man.

He was something of an expert on London murders and famous police cases, he was also an illusionist, and author and had been one of the original presenters on Talk Radio before it became a recluse for failed footballers and was renamed "Talk Sport".

It was on the radio that I had my only ever contact with Jeremy Beadle when back in 1995, when studying late at night at University, I heard him talking about electronic methods of voting on his Talk Radio phone in show. He made a couple of logical assumptions which I disagreed with, so decided to phone in. Unlike many shows and modern presenters, he did not play devils advocate but listened, asked constructive questions, and seemed to genuinely be grateful for my call. Indeed I was on air for about 15 minutes discussing a wide range of other issues as he seemed to think my views were of some merit. As we wound up the call, and the line went dead, I went back in to the living room where my housemates were listening and as there was a bout a 12 second delay on the call to be able to eliminate swearing and abusive callers, I heard what he said about me just as I entered the room, his words were

"That was Nich in Coventry. What a bright bloke. I do like talking to genuinely intelligent people".

Thanks Jeremy. It was nice to be given the time to speak to you back in 1995 and may you rest in peace.