Straight off the Jeremy Vine

There can be few BBC employees who epitomise the corporation's wondrous variety better than Jeremy Vine. At present he has his own show on Radio Two which regularly attracts 5.6 million listeners, he presents Panorama and Points of View, and has taken over from Peter Snow as master of the 'Swingometer' in the BBC's election coverage. In fact, with every medium and genre under his belt, he's the very model of a modern BBC man - and yet, according to Vine, his career path has been far from deliberate. "A BBC career can't be planned, it's really just a series of coincidences. And God bless the BBC, it's great at being random."

Having been a print and TV journalist, author, radio broadcaster and TV presenter, Vine's 'random' career has covered most media disciplines - something he thinks is invaluable in today's fast-changing media environment. "When aspiring journalists and broadcasters ask me for advice, I usually give two rather contradictory answers. The first is to have a very definite idea of where you want to get and to pursue it ruthlessly. And the second is to be flexible, because if you only want one thing and you don't get it, then what's the plan B?"

It's advice born of his own experience which has seen him pursue each career change with equal dedication. His first taste of the limelight was at the tender age of 12 when he appeared as a selected 'Young DJ' on Capital Radio. "The show was called Hullabaloo presented by Kenny Everett," recalls Vine enthusiastically. "When I arrived and saw the studio, I knew it was the career for me. I only played three records but it was such an inspiration that when I got home I wrote to 50 local radio stations and asked if they could give me a job."

By the time he'd left school he'd turned his attentions to print journalism under the impression that it would provide more serious content, but his passion for radio never diminished and 26 years later his show on Radio Two is conducted with the same enthusiasm that he displayed on Hullabaloo. "Radio is intimate. It's a conversation, while television is a show. Listeners know you better on the radio. I have people coming up and asking questions about my self and my life."

Such familiarity is a reflection of the tone of his show which is welcoming and accessible, seeking to delve deeper into the stories behind the issues of the day. "By the time the show comes on air, the news is well covered, so I'm looking to delve deeper into background and opinion. It's a values show and my style reflects this."

It's a style that Vine says is a product of his own personality and the formative experience of working alongside some of the finest talent in political reporting for the BBC from Jeremy Paxman to John Sergeant.

Following on from this, Vine became the BBC's Africa Correspondent. Over the next three and a half years, his work took him to the furthest backwaters of Africa, from covering war-torn Eritrea to conducting one of the BBC's last interviews with Robert Mugabe (who he describes as 'an engaging monster'). "They were the most incredible years of my life. When I experienced the terrible human impact of the stories we were covering, it really made me realise how serious and real news is."

After coups and dictators, Vine returned to the relatively sedate surroundings of west London where he now lives with his wife and daughters, Martha aged five and Anna aged two. "We live off Chiswick High Road and it's a wonderful area," he enthuses. "There's so much to do. I particularly love the river and the cycle routes. I used to be a nervous cyclist, but now I take the girls out all the time - we've discovered all these wonderful Chiswick secrets like picnicking on Duke's Meadow."

In two years he's immersed himself in local life and can often be seen in restaurants like La Trompette, Carluccio's and Anna Perna, frequently reading the local press. "Having begun my career on a local paper, I've a real affinity for them. I think people are very interested in local issues and the regional press can make people proud of."

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