by RHODES, Greece (AP) – Dr. Michael Mosley his own guinea pig.
In the name of science, the British TV host put his body to the test by ingesting tapeworms, injecting snake venom and letting leeches suck his blood.
What didn’t kill him made him even more popular and reached millions through BBC programs such as “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor”, other television and radio appearances, and diet books which sell best.
In the end, his death came during a hike in the blazing sun on a Greek island where he was on vacation.
Greek police said Monday there was no sign of foul play, although an autopsy was underway to determine the cause.
Here are some things to know about Mosley:
He was steps away from reaching a beach
Mosley, 67, was found dead on Sunday, four days after he went missing on the island of Symi.
His wife said he took the wrong way on a short walk to the next town and appeared to have fallen.
The path would have taken him over or alongside a steep, unforgiving slope that was littered with rocks and no shelter from the heat that hit 37 Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit).
His body was found within a few dozen feet of the water.
“He almost managed to reach his destination,” Lefteris Papakalodoukas, the mayor of Symi, told the Greek Alpha TV. “It was only another 10 meters (33 feet) to the beach. But that must have been when his strength left him.”
Dr. Clare Bailey Mosley said her family was relieved to know her husband was almost completely safe.
“He made an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he could not be easily seen by the extensive search team,” she said in a statement.
The banker who became a doctor who didn’t practice medicine
After graduating from Oxford University, Mosley became an investment banker before going back to school to become a doctor. After qualifying for a career in medicine, however, he took another dramatic career change. He trained as an assistant producer at the BBC which eventually led to a career in front of the camera.
Mosley was highly praised for his ability to articulate complex science and his willingness to be the subject of experiments that forced others.
In a BBC program entitled “Infested! Living with parasites,” he swallowed tapeworm funds. He used a “bullet camera” to inspect his bowels and was looking at an iPad in an Indian restaurant when he saw the tapeworms attached to his intestine.
“I called out: ‘Blimey! There’s a tapeworm in me!’ The other diners were very surprised,” he said. “I was very happy, but at the same time, it was quite terrifying.”
When he was diagnosed with stage 2 diabetes in 2012, Mosley turned to health science and developed a diet that beat the diagnosis and became the basis for one of his books.
He later popularized intermittent fasting and low-carb meals with his 2013 book “The Fast Diet,” which he co-authored with journalist Mimi Spencer, which advocated the so-called “5:2 diet” to reduce calories to minimize two days a week. eating healthily the other five.
His “Just One Thing” radio series launching in 2021 advocated simple changes that could transform health and wellness.
“I remember him as a bright spark that, though now sadly extinguished, will live on through his influential ‘Just One Thing’,” said Mark Miodownik, professor of materials science at University College London, who worked with Mosley. “Science has lost one of its best and most influential communicators. His warmth and connection with the audience was great.”
Relentless search from air, land and water
The search for Mosley began when he did not return after leaving his wife and friends and going for a walk from Agios Nikolaos beach near where he was staying.
Searchers on foot, divers in the water, helicopters and drones from above and parties combing the shore from boats spent four days searching for Mosley.
CCTV footage believed to be the last sight of him showed him walking through a village with a black umbrella over him to protect himself from the sun.
But footage released on Monday appeared to show him scrambling down a rock slope near a fence and falling out of sight where his body was later found.
On Sunday, a boat with the mayor and a group of journalists were scanning the rugged slope when a cameraman saw something dark among the rocks.
The mayor took a photo of the camera display and zoomed in.
“He has good intentions,” he said. “He was the missing man.”
Ilias Tsavaris, bar manager at the Agia Marina, said he went up the hill after receiving a call from the boat telling him to confirm the sighting.
“When I walked up I saw something like a body,” he said. “You don’t see a dead body everyday, it’s not a war zone, it’s summer, you’re supposed to have fun and swim.”
Clare Bailey Mosley thanked the Symi family for their tireless search for a man they did not know.
“Some of these people worked on the island, who had never even heard of Michael, from black to black without question,” she said.
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Melley reported from London. Associated Press writer Costas Kantouris from Thessaloniki, Greece contributed.
