The nutritionist also arranged for a regular supply of smoothie supplement drinks and stressed the importance of consuming at least one a day. They came in a wide range of foul flavours and only ever acted on Dad as a powerful emetic. Between the smoothies and the cheese, one of us was gagging most of the time. A funny, self deprecating and moving autobiography that switches between Adam’s time caring for his elderly father and his pop culture saturated childhood in the 80s. The most emotionally effective parts (for me) were about Adam’s relationship with his father, Nigel, who is as rigid, conservative and snobbish as he is earnest and eloquent - trying to give his children a secure future the best way he knows. Father-son difficulties seem to be a common autobiographical thread (at least in works I’ve been reading e.g. Karl Ove Knausgaard) but in this case Adam managed to convey both the flaws and endearing qualities of a difficult father. Plus, there are clear benefits to being able to relive the past. Buxton always knew his father was baffled by his interests – that was the whole joke of BaaadDad. Recently, he has been watching old outtakes from The Adam And Joe Show. “We shot absolute hours of stuff with my dad, making him go to places that he hated, and he was always game. It was heroic. I used to think, ‘Why isn’t he more proud of me?’ But he was proud. I can see that now.”

But just before he had zoned out completely, Dad slowly reached out his arm, took my hand and brought it to his face. “He probably wants me to wipe his mouth or scratch his ear or something,” I thought, but to my surprise he gave my hand a kiss. Oh shit! I thought. This is it. Closure time!

Soon after, we met with the local GP and it was agreed that there was little to be gained from any aggressive treatment for his cancer. The GP explained that if he took his various pills when he was supposed to, Dad was unlikely to be in any pain and the main challenge would be keeping his energy levels up. To that end, a nutritionist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital encouraged him to load up on noodles, butter, cheese and other foods that for most people might be considered naughty. Jan Morris was born James Humphry Morris in Somerset in 1926, and died in Wales in 2020. She underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1972, after travelling to Morocco for the procedure. Two years later, she wrote Conundrum, in which she told the story of her transition. It was re-released in 2018. It’s easy to imagine that investigative presenters like Theroux simply swoop in, do their jobs and move on to the next subject, the next programme or the next big thing with barely a thought for the one they’re leaving behind. This autobiography proves that not to be the case at all. Not only are there real people behind the stories; there are real people presenting them, too. I certainly cried as I was writing. I regretted things, felt ashamed, thought of things I should have said. I’m not sure how useful some of that wallowing was, but overall it did me good. It also encouraged me to find out a lot more about my parents. We never talked about emotional stuff, about their pasts or families. So it was fascinating digging into all that. Nigel Buxton is portrayed as an irascible but lovable figure during Adam’s childhood, who becomes more irascible and less lovable as the years go by.

I feel a strong temptation to lie and list some that make me look more intelligent. But if I’m honest, I love Athletico Mince, Richard Herring, The Horne Section and a Canadian one called Stop Podcasting Yourself. The hosts remind me of a Canadian me and Joe.I didn’t like to see him vulnerable and frightened. On the other hand, it was preferable to seeing him crotchety and impatient. It didn’t look as though he was going to die at that very moment, so I asked if he’d like me to read to him Ramble Book is about parenthood, boarding school trauma, arguing with your partner, bad parties, confrontations on trains, friendship, wanting to fit in, growing up in the 80s, dead dads, teenage sexual anxiety, failed artistic endeavours, being a David Bowie fan; and how everything you read, watch and listen to as a child forms a part of the adult you become.

The content covers his days at boarding school, the family’s travels (his dad was the Travel Editor at the Telegraph, so holidays were exotic), discovering music, discovering girls, never living up to his dad’s expectations, his days at Westminster where he met Joe and Louis Theroux and others. It’s whimsically done, and admirably honest. The only bits that fell flat for me were the music deep dives - only because I didn’t have the obsessions that he had with David Bowie and others. The bits on friends, school tribes, formative experiences and eighties culture were great. With its rugged fells, softly flowing streams, glittering tarns and wide open lakes, the Lake District is England’s most popular National Park. Covering 2,362 square kilometres of protected land, it’s still easy to find an isolated felltop to breathe in the fresh Cumbrian air and escape modern life here.” He plays me – with delight – a new jingle he’s been working on. It’s about Covid-19 and contains the lyric “I have to wear a mask because IIIIIII am toxic/ Terrible things are spilling out of me…” When he played it to his eldest son, Natty, he told him it could be funnier. “And I had to resist the temptation to say, ‘You don’t know anything! Play me some of your funny jingles, 18-year-old!’ I didn’t say that, I just said, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right…’” Aside from his father, the other leading characters in Ramble Book are Cornish and Louis Theroux, Buxton’s friends since Westminster. When they were 15, Buxton and Cornish invented their own fantasy media empire, called Joe/Adz Corporate; their first productions were sketches, parodies of the Gold Blend Advert and Monty Python tributes, filmed on Buxton’s father’s video camera. Within a decade they were broadcasting similar things on Channel 4 on The Adam and Joe Show, which is where Ramble Book ends. Buxton would now like to write more – about working with Cornish, and his “hair-raising 90s”.

Even at school, Louis and Joe were the two funniest people to hang out with. I can see why he went down the serious documentary route – good for you, enjoy your Baftas – so it’s nice to showcase his stupid side. Is there really a rivalry there? “When I joke, there’s always a grain of truth to it. But it’s so unimportant. I definitely had a long phase with Joe when I really did feel threatened and felt like people saw me as the failure. I thought, ‘Oh NO, I’m [the Fifth Beatle] Pete Best!’ But then I got over it. I’m sure it pops up, it’s bound to pop up, isn’t it?” Our interview has very much turned into a ramble chat. When I first arrived at his house, I worried that Buxton was weighed down by the past. But now it feels more that he simply surrounds himself with happy memories; he loved his parents, he loves his friends – why shouldn’t he keep mementoes from them? Over in the flat I found him sitting up in bed looking worried. “It’s the strangest thing,” he said, all the hardness gone out of his voice. “I woke up and I no longer had any sense of who I am.” I fetched a family photo album and found that he was able to recognise and identify everyone in it, so the problem wasn’t with his memory. Instead, it was his sense of self that had short-circuited. I didn’t like to see him vulnerable. On the other hand, it was preferable to seeing him crotchety and impatient