BBC Radio 4 listeners pay tribute to Dr Michael Mosley after tuning into his final interview recorded just two weeks before his death

Emotional BBC Radio 4 listeners have paid tribute to Dr Michael Mosley after his last-ever interview was broadcast following his death on the Greek island of Symi.

Dr Mosley, who influenced public health in the UK through his life-changing tips, was tragically found dead by a fence at the resort of Agia Marina on Sunday morning just 260 feet from a beach bar and safety.

At 11am, BBC Radio 4 aired a special programme, There's Only One Michael Mosley, which contained the last interview the TV doctor conducted before his death.

The recording was introduced by TV doctor and presenter Chris van Tulleken, who Mosley worked with as part of Trust Me, I'm A Doctor. In a heartbreaking tribute, he said: 'I didn't know was that it would be the last time I ever saw him.'

Dr Mosley recorded a special edition of Just One Thing, in which he regularly revealed tips to help improve your health, at the Hay Festival on May 25 with Professor Paul Bloom. His wife, Dr Clare Bailey Mosley, also a doctor, author and health columnist, was in the audience.

During the interview, there were several moments where Dr Mosley had the audience in stitches with his witty jokes, infectious laugh and self-deprecating nature. 

Dr Mosley started the interview by telling the guest speaker: 'We have a super enthusiastic audience which I think is probably one of the good things about life isn't it?

'This is something I am really looking forward to because I have been obsessed with the question of how to live a good life for a long time.

'I come from a long line of missionaries on my mother's side and a long line of bankers on my father's side so I'm kind of torn in two different directions and to some extent that has dictated the course of my life.'

He had the audience in laughter when he talked about his love hate relationship with cold showers.

He said: 'What I typically do is go into the warm shower, I wash myself and then I hit the cold. I cannot say it is a moment of bliss, normally followed by a lot of screaming! Ahh! And actually, what I do is sing very loudly which my wife really hates - but it gets me through it. And afterwards I feel good about it.

When the professor joked 'Maybe it signals to your wife how tough you are?', Dr Mosley replied: 'Yay! Are you listening Clare?'

Later on, the professor says to him: 'When I go to sleep I often put on a podcast, not an interesting one.

Dr Mosley jokes: 'One of mine then?'

The professor replies: 'Never. A sort of dull, male, droning voice.'

And the audience erupts into laughter as Dr Mosley says: 'You're talking about me again!'

Reacting to the interview, one social media user said: 'Michael at his best - full of warmth, insight and enjoying his time with the Hay Festival audience.'

A second wrote: 'Oh my gosh, Michael Mosley's last episode of Just One Thing recorded just a few weeks ago is absolutely heart rending. Listening to it just now. It's hilarious as usual and so sad knowing we now don't have his wonderful humour and insights.'

Another posted: 'Oh, man, listening to Michael Mosley, what a great presenter.'

A fourth said: 'I loved Michael Mosley and I don't object to his interview being played - but I had to switch off as it is still too raw to listen to. Just one more fan.'

Mr van Tulleken opened the programme by saying: 'Hello I am Chris van Tulleken and what you are about to hear was recorded just a few minutes before I met up with Michael at the Hay Festival and what I didn't know was that it would be the last time I ever saw him.

'Because two weeks later, he died on holiday with his wife in Greece.

'As you are listening to Michael I want you to reflect on his style, drily witty, modest, humble, this style disguises that he is one of the most important broadcasters of recent decades

'Before Michael, doctors in white coats told you how to live in their ivory towers . Michael's genius was to make himself the patient and the guinea pig that is utterly relatable

'We will never forget him infecting himself with a tapeworm or having a camera put up his back package

'All for our benefit. and he's the reason so many programmes on radio and TV have adopted this style - he's the reason I've adopted this style.

'Off camera, and off mic, he was the same. humble kind and above all generous. and that generosity set the tone in the BBC science unit in the way that meant everyone who worked they became friends and collaborators rather than competitors

'For me these friendships have endured for well over a decade. Michael's death has moved so many of us so really I'm speaking for lots of TV and audio presenters and producers, his legacy is going to live on in our memories

'Every time we brush our teeth standing on one leg, we fast a little longer between meals, we build up our strength with squats or do any one of the other hundreds tricks he taught us.

'I'll miss him as a friend and a mentor, but perhaps most of all I'll miss him as a broadcaster.'

Dr Mosley had left friends on the island's Agios Nikolaos beach at around 1.30pm last Wednesday to go for a walk but he never returned. 

A five-day search for the much-loved health guru and Mail columnist ended in tragedy on Sunday when his body was found face up in a rocky area at the resort of Agia Marina. 

He was found dead by a fence just 260 feet from a beach bar and safety. 

Police say he died of 'heat exhaustion' after 'sitting down and losing consciousness' in the searing 40C heat. 

The initial post-mortem examination carried out by Rhodes coroner Despina Nethena showed that there was no third party involvement and no 'criminal' element involved - but a definite cause of death has yet to be established.

It is thought Dr Mosley may have sat down to gather himself after being overcome with exhaustion and by effects of the heat having taken a wrong turn down a mountain path.

It also estimated that the time of death was around 4pm local time on Wednesday.

Dimos Kotsidaras, police commander for Symi, said: 'It looks like cause of death was heat exhaustion after walking in high temperatures from St Nicholas to Agia Marina.' 

It's understood Dr Mosley's body will liekly be released to his family and repatriated by the weekend. 

Dr Mosley is credited with popularising the 5:2 diet, a form of intermittent fasting, through his book The Fast Diet which he co-authored with journalist Mimi Spencer, and later advocating for The Fast 800 diet, which follows a 'moderately low-carb, Mediterranean-style diet'.

In 2002, he was nominated for an Emmy for his executive producer role on BBC science documentary The Human Face, and he also ingested tapeworms for six weeks for a 2014 documentary called Infested! Living With Parasites on BBC Four.

The BBC will also air a special programme at 8pm tonight, which will look at how Dr Mosley transformed people's lives and was an executive producer following him working on the shows Pompeii - The Last Day; Krakatoa Revealed; Life Before Birth, and Supervolcano.

The corporation said: 'His programmes have made a lasting impact on the nation's health habits from intermittent fasting to the benefits of a cold shower.

'Michael also shared his own struggles with audiences worldwide; as a chronic insomniac he made programmes about sleep and, ever curious, he would also go to extremes in the pursuit of science, even infecting himself with a tapeworm.

'Celebrating Michael's career, this programme marks the enormous impact he made, touching the lives of so many.'