Dr Michael Mosley's last message on social media the day he disappeared on Wednesday was:
'If time is tight, what's the one thing that you should be doing to improve your health and wellbeing?'
...er, is it 'in very hot weather drink plenty of water and don't go yomping across a rocky island in 41°C heat'?
BBC presenter Dr Michael Mosley - known as 'Mad Mike' to colleagues - whose exploits have included injecting himself with snake venom and deliberately infecting himself with tapeworms, has gone missing on the Greek island of Symri . The 67-year old was on holiday with his wife and friends when he complained of feeling unwell after downing half a bottle of Ouzo, a Greek tipple. The medical doctor and his wife - also a doctor - decided that the best course of action was for him to 'walk it off' and hike back alone to their holiday home in blistering midday heat along a rocky path, leaving his phone behind and carrying no water.
A full six hours after he left, his wife and friends decided to raise the alarm. "We were sitting down for a game of Bridge at 7.30pm and suddenly realised that we were one short to make up a four, and that Michael was not there." said Dr Clare Bailey Mosley "I then remembered that Michael had left us on foot in the afternoon and didn't have his phone with him"
It turned out that after striding with his brolly as far as Pedi, 'Mad Mike' decided he didn't want to wait for a bus to take him the rest of the way back to the house he was staying in Symi. Muttering "Fuck it, I'll walk" after being told the bus would be another ten minutes, it seems he instead opted for 'the scenic route', the long way round - what locals describe as 'treacherous' rocky coastal path. He apparently met someone en route who told him he was going the wrong way for Symi but waved a scrappy bit of paper at them saying he had map and "Trust me, I'ma doctor!". Michael Mosley was known as an eccentric with psychopathic personality traits who has written books on how to lose weight by starving yourself.
It emerged this afternoon (Sunday 9th June 2024) that his body was found just 80m from a resort restaurant and 150m from the sea. Now footage found by the Agia Marina beach restaurant has shown him gingerly picking his way down a slope close to a fence then falling out of view at 3.44pm last Wednesday - two hours and 15 minutes after he left the St Nicholas restaurant. Was he trying to reach the water for a swim? Or trying to get back to the jetty where he could have picked up a boat to Pedi or Symi. Again, a mobile phone in this situation would have been invaluable.
Dr Mosley’s brother, Arthur, yesterday said somewhat presciently: "Unfortunately, when you get to Michael’s age, accidents like this can happen" adding "We know as much as what the police and the media has reported, and hope there’s a good outcome..." - but let's face facts here; he's fucked. Arthur Mosley claimed his brother Michael had been in “good spirits” before he went on holiday, addressing speculation that the presenter had gone on a Captain Oates-style 'short walk' to end his life.
Past comments Michael made about the prospect of dying have also resurfaced in light of his death. In 2016, Michael Mosley explained that a test he'd done on Horizon - a BBC 2 programme - had found he had a partial blockage in one of his coronary arteries, and went on to discuss patterns of death in his family:
"It was a bit freaky and I'm still aware of it.
No male in my family has made it beyond 72."
And as it turns out, our eccentric doctor is not the first pensioner to go missing on Symi. Five years ago in 2019 another older gentleman went missing and was never found. This has only emerged recently. John Tossell, a 78-year-old man from Bridgend, went missing on the Greek island of Zakynthos five years ago this month. Never found. To lose one British tourist may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. Were there no signposts on the island? No warnings?
It is understood that the search for TV doctor Michael Mosley has been moved to a 'very dangerous' area of the Greek island where he went missing. The focus has been switched to an area known locally as 'The Abyss'. Other theories that Mosley had been trying to 'do a Stonehouse' and fake his death mean that the local police are also searching along the coast for a neatly laid out pile of clothes.
As I wrote here, it's not a good idea to rely solely on a mobile phone in such situations as they have batteries that can run out. However, there are times when a smartphone is better than a laptop, better than a dumbphone and even better than a paper map, especially if one has no compass. One of these times is when you are a 67 year old taking a hike across inhospitable terrain in 100+ degree heat. Please please take your smartphone along with you then.
This article is obviously somewhat tongue-in-cheek but it is such a bizarre story of foolhardiness if not stupidity it deserves it. A Greek policeman broke his leg just trying to get to the (presumed) presenter's dead body! As with certain other notorious disappearances, one feels one is not being told the whole story... Someone is being economical with the actualité