Vic Reeves has revealed that his brain tumour diagnosis had ruined two of the greatest loves in his life - music and bird-watching.
The 62-year-old comedy star has been diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma – also known as acoustic neuroma, which is a non-cancerous brain tumour.
The growth has left him deaf in one ear, and has ruined his pastimes of listening to music and bird-watching.
Vic, a keen musician who had a No1 hit with Dizzy and a No3 with a re-working of The Monkees’ I’m a Believer, decided to get rid of all his stereo record collection because he couldn’t appreciate them any more.
Rock lover Vic lamented: “Can you imagine a life without stereo records? No more will I hear Jimi Hendrix!”
Vic, 62, whose real name is Jim Moir, explained how the partial deafness ruined bird-watching for him as well.
He said: “I never know where the birds are because I can hear them, but I don’t know what direction they’re in.
“If an aeroplane flies over or a car approaches, I don’t know where it is.”
He also told The Adam Buxton podcast that he hates having MRI scans.
He said: “The last time they put me in one I said ‘get me out of here quick’.
“I just couldn’t do it, so I ended up having to pay for it, but they got my head which is all they wanted.”
Opening up about his diagnosis, Vic explained that the growth is fortunately not at risk of being deadly, and he’s being advised on treatment.
He said: “It's benign. They can't remove it - they can shrink it or they can leave it and keep an eye on it, and that's what they're doing.
"The eardrum and your brain, there's a nerve and that takes all the information from your ear to your brain and the tumour is right in between the nerve, so it's gone ping and snapped it and you can't reattach nerves."
Vic’s health issues come after comedy partner Bob Mortimer had triple heart bypass surgery in 2015.
Bob, also 62, said in 2018 the health scare gave him a “reality check” but had a positive effect on his outlook on life.
His other ailments include rheumatoid arthritis and he told Teesside Live this month: “My heart attack doesn’t impinge on my life at all – but it’s my f***ing joints that do!”
