for a documentary and then swallowed a camera to examine them wriggling around in his gut. Similarly he tried vaping, magic mushrooms, leeches and snake venom, all in the name of TV science.
It worked. Fast Diet, the book he co-authored with Spencer, sold 1.4m copies. His current book, Four Weeks to Better Sleep, is running high in the bestseller charts. And his radio and podcast series Just One Thing on tips for health and wellbeing has had more than 25 million listeners, making it the BBC’s most popular podcast.
Prof Andrew Steptoe, the head of behavioural science and health at University College London, who has appeared on some of Mosley’s programmes, said: “He did a fantastic job in popularising health promotion and the prevention of ill health. He was very focused on encouraging people to do things that would increase their wellbeing and reduce their risk of illness before it starts.”Wales: “It has just completely astonished me how popular it is.