But Nick Hewer is lucky to be here at all after being an “inch away” from having a stroke. The 75-year-old was working in Africa when he suddenly lost his vision and was unable to focus. However, it was only when he returned to the UK and saw his GP, who revealed his life was in danger. “I had the scare when I was in Sierra Leone while I was working for the charity Street Child,” says Nick. “I was in my hotel room squinting at my laptop when my vision went all funny. Unbeknown to me, a blood vessel behind my retina had burst.”
“But it wasn’t until I flew back to the UK and I went to see my GP in Northamptonshire to have a yellow fever jab for my next trip that I told him that I hadn’t been able to see properly and I wasn’t feeling great. He took my blood pressure and it turned out to be really high. He looked really alarmed and said to me, ‘Good God, how long has this been going on for?’
“He said I was dangerously close to having a stroke and he would have to put me on hypertension pills but that I should get my eyes checked as well.
“I went straight to Moorfields eye hospital in London where it was confirmed I was an inch away from having a stroke and that instead of a blood vessel bursting in the brain, it had popped behind the retina of my right eye.
“They said it had been a near miss and, if it had gone undetected, it would have gone into the brain.
“I was fortuitous to be in the right place at the right time and I’ve been taking hypertension tablets since.”
Nick’s mum died aged 82, from heart complications, and his dad was 96 when he died from catching a suspected bug on the hospital wards after having a nasty fall.
Nick admits that not only has it made him aware of his mortality but he now lives as principled a life as possible.
Recently, he was one of 24 high-profile figures to write and sign an open letter saying how he refused to vote for the Labour Party because of allegations of anti-Semitism.
Rachel Riley, Pasha Kovalev and their daughter Maven Aria, Nick Hewer (Image: Rachel Riley Instagram/Getty)
“Along with the likes of Joanna Lumley and John le Carré, I signed an open letter saying we must ‘encompass Britain’s Jews with unwavering solidarity’ and that we have to live in a more tolerant society,” he reveals. “I feel flattered to be in such good company to have signed this open letter. It’s something I feel very strongly about. Bigotry of any nature is a wicked thing. My grandparents were from Belfast. I had a Catholic grandfather and a Presbyterian grandmother, so they understood about bigotry and I feel the same way about this whole anti-Semitism wave.”
Nick’s Countdown colleague Rachel Riley has also spoken out about the abuse and death threats she has experienced since standing up to Labour.
The TV personality and mathematician, who gave birth to a baby girl, Maven Aria, on Sunday, has received vitriolic comments as a result.
“I’ve seen how Rachel has been trolled. It’s absolutely disgusting,” says Nick. “I admire her for standing up for what she believes in. It’s awful to think anti-Semitism even exists. I had voted Labour all my life before this but not anymore. I can’t have anything to do with them now and Jeremy Corbyn should step down.”
Nick reveals that Rachel is planning to take three months maternity leave until February when they will reprise the filming of Countdown.
“Everybody on the Countdown team has been waiting with bated breath,” says Nick. “I was one of the first people to find out and she sent me some gorgeous pictures a few days ago and she looked like a very proud mum. I didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or girl, so it was a real surprise.
“I am in no doubt that she will be the best mum and her husband Pasha (Kovalev) will be a great dad. What a wonderful Christmas it will be and what a fantastic, but early, Christmas present to have.
“I live in the country and they live in town so I don’t expect we shall get to see the baby until the New Year and it might well be when filming starts on Countdown in February. “What a great start to 2020 for them.”
Nick Hewer the host of Countdown (Image: PA)
Nick has signed a two-year contract to continue on Countdown until the end of 2020.
“I would be flattered if they asked me to do it again. It’s quite arduous but it’s not exactly coal mining.”
Nick’s TV career didn’t start until he was 60 when he joined Sir Alan Sugar as his right-hand man on The Apprentice.
The pair met in 1983 when Nick was taken on as a PR by Amstrad (founded by Sir Alan) to help with the launch of its home computers.
From 2005 to 2014, Nick was an integral part of the BBC One series but he eventually quit because of exhaustion although he still watches the show and was glued to the all-female final last night.
He remains close friends with Sir Alan and holidayed with him on his yacht in Croatia this year.
Determined to spend more time with his partner of 20 years, Catherine, Nick accepts he saw too little of his two grown-up children and threw himself further into work.
“My divorce (in 1985) did affect my relationship with my children but it’s OK now,” he insists.
“My first marriage suffered as a result of me always working and so I try to spend more time at home.
“Catherine, in all honesty, has changed my life. I think she has steadied and steered the ship. I am not very well organised domestically and she is amazing.
“I’ve never been a romantic person. I find it all terribly schmaltzy. I’m not a candlelit dinner-and-roses kind of guy. I’m more practical minded but don’t get me wrong it has crossed my mind to marry her.
“But we are independent of one another too and I like to travel, she runs a successful business and we have a new black labrador that she looks after while I’m away.”
Nick has completed epic road trips through Russia, Mongolia and Sierra Leone to raise money for charity.
An ambassador for Street Child, he is currently supporting its Mind The Gap campaign which highlights how 125 million children worldwide are being left behind because they are not in education.
A donation of £15, doubled to £30 by UK Aid Match, covers the school fees, uniform and learning materials for one child and money donated to the appeal before January 4, 2020, will be doubled by the UK Government.
Nick Hewer in Sierra Leone for Street Child (Image: Michael Duff )
After Christmas, Nick is off to Japan “to have a potter about and explore Hiroshima and Kyoto.”
But before then he plans to celebrate the festive season at his home in Northamptonshire with his son and daughter and his five grandchildren.
“On Christmas Eve, Catherine and I will go to midnight mass at our local church where they have a carol candlelit service and we’ll have mince pies afterwards.
“Catherine is cooking goose on Christmas Day although it will only just about feed us.
“What will I be watching on TV on Christmas day? Chernobyl is not really Christmas fare but I am locked on to that at the moment and I don’t think I will be watching Strictly.
“They actually tapped me up for the last series and I said, ‘No one is stitching me into a yellow satin shirt.’ The athleticism would kill me within minutes. It wouldn’t be good for the blood pressure either.
“I’m too old and Gloria Hunniford, who’s nearly 80 nearly did it, but she can be carried around because she is so tiny. I’d have to lift a female on top of my shoulders and I gave up doing that some time ago.”
Street Child is a UK-based charity that educates and protects children in war zones and other crisis situations. All donations to their Mind the Gap appeal before January 4 will be doubled by the UK Government. For details, see ukaidmatch.org