We didn't rely on iPad babysitting'

TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine reveals why books are so special to him and his daughter

- ZOE WEST

Looking at the light coming in through the window, this photo must have been taken a couple of months after my eldest daughter, Martha, was born in the spring of 2004. I married my wife, Rachel Schofield, in September 2002, Martha came along two years later and then our other daughter, Anna, in 2006.

This picture was taken in a small house in Hammersmith, London that we lived in at the time, and I distinctly remember thinking what a big moment it was. She was my first child and I instantly went into hunter-gatherer mode. I worked as hard as I ever worked. I was presenting BBC2's Newsnight at the time, and preparing to take over the lunchtime radio show on BBC Radio 2, which I began in 2003. Maybe it was a slightly primal, immature reaction, to want to work extra hard to provide for my family, but it was the way I felt at the time. Fortunately, my wife was responsible for a lot of what was going on at home. But I do wish I could go back and say to that guy in the picture, 'Don't worry, it will all be fine.'