I feel privileged to be carrying on Michael's legacy

Dr Clare Bailey Mosley talks to ELLA WALKER about her late husband, celebrated broadcaster Michael Mosley, his enduring sweet tooth and family meals

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DR Clare Bailey Mosley well remembers the day she wrote the introduction to her new cookbook, The Fast 800 Favourites.

She says: “It really happened! I was sitting at the desk where I am now, and I stood up. I was rummaging through the books at the back of the shelves and there was just this loud clunk. It was one of the chocolate bars he'd asked me to hide. It was a message from another world really.”

Clare is talking about her late husband, the celebrated TV presenter, 5:2 diet and fasting pioneer and science writer Michael Mosley, who was committed to improving the nation’s metabolic health, but also had quite the sweet tooth.

Michael, 67, died on the Greek island of Symi in June 2024, after succumbing to heat stroke while on holiday with his family.

Clare’s love for her husband of 37 years is felt on every page of The Fast 800 Favourites, which brings together dishes from the pair’s kitchen, and from the series of Fast 800 books they co-created.

“Really, it’s a tribute to Michael and the lovely recipes we put together over the years,’ says Clare, 64, who, the morning we speak, has spent “a ridiculous amount of time” going through their “really nostalgic” shared meals.

“I got absorbed in them. There's something about recipes that are so personal, and you often remember them, and they have a feel to them,’ she says.

“I'm sitting here looking at Michael's favourite breakfast, which was chorizo omelette.