My Eyes Are So “My Eyes Are S
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“ “ INTERVIEW “ My eyes are so WOBBLY THAT TRYING TO read an autocue IS POINTLESS TV quiz show host, Richard Osman, reveals why nystagmus has helped make him a star... and a ‘weird crush’ for fans. ichard Osman has been called He hadn’t, and nor was he nervous. see this level of detail. “the guru of the TV quiz show. Osman has nystagmus, an eye condition that Given the e ects that nystagmus has, For the past 20 years, it has dramatically reduces his vision. He was born Osman’s success in a visual medium would been impossible to turn on the with it and there is no cure. seem all the more impressive. But he counters Rtelevision without seeing something he It meant that when lming Have I Got News this argument, saying it has played to his dreamt up, wrote or produced. From the For You, he had little chance of being able to advantage. satirical Have I Got News For You and Whose read the autocue, just a few feet away. “I don’t think I’d have the career I have Line Is It Anyway to crowd-pleasers such as “I also nd looking directly at the camera now if I didn’t have poor eyesight. When I am Total Wipeout, Million Pound Drop and Deal pretty di cult,” he explains. editing a TV programme, there is no point Or No Deal, he’s been involved in them all. What viewers were actually witnessing was asking me about a certain camera angle or For the past 17 years, the 6ft 7in Osman a neurological battle. One part of Osman’s the lighting. I can’t really see it. I want to talk has worked for TV company, Endemol, of Big brain was telling his eyes to look at the about the feel of the show Brother fame, which he has helped shape camera. The other was then allowing them to “I’ve found that while everyone else is into the biggest production company in the slip sideways. thinking about what the set looks like, I am world. Now aged 47, Osman has moved in Each slip and correction causes the eyes thinking ‘hold on, that joke did not work or front of the camera, co-hosting more than to icker. What is so astonishing about that relationship between those two people 600 episodes of the BBC teatime hit quiz nystagmus is that this happens at lightning is not where it should be’, and that is all I am show, Pointless, with his friend, Alexander speed. Within a fraction of a second, the battle focusing on, which is a useful skill.” Armstrong. It attracts a stalwart three starts again, over and over. Nystagmus a ects one in 1,000 people in million viewers daily and has won him an When Osman tried to look at the camera, this country. Experts still don’t understand army of female admirers who crowned the the e ort he put into trying to move his eyes what triggers it. The result is eyes that bespectacled, toothy Osman their top ‘Weird back to the front led his head to appear as if it relentlessly move to and fro, or up and down Crush’ of 2011. was subtly shaking. and, in rare cases, round and round. It means “Staring at a xed point when your eyes the eyes have less time to focus on what is Living with nystagmus are constantly moving can make you feel in front of them because they quickly slip With such a pedigree in TV, it might seem nauseous and you want to look away,” he sideways. strange that Osman once sent a tweet saying adds. “I prefer my head and body to be o - Anything more than a few feet away is he was extremely nervous about hosting Have centre, like in Pointless.” rather blurry and detail is lost. It also makes I Got News For You for the rst time. When Strangely, people with nystagmus cannot it hard to see a small, fast-moving object – the show went on air, a die-hard fan noticed see their eyes icker, and Osman has never such as a ball – as it whizzes past. Many also Osman shaking slightly at the start and asked noticed it in either a mirror or when he sees struggle to spot the tiny visual clues we give if he’d been drunk. himself on screen. Put simply, su erers cannot in expressions, from a twinkle in the eye to a 10 VISTA Pg10-12 - Interview.indd 10 20/08/2018 15:27 Richard Osman (left), with his Pointless co-star, Alexander Armstrong VISTA 11 Pg10-12 - Interview.indd 11 20/08/2018 15:27 INTERVIEW momentary frown. thought, ‘wow, I’m absolutely Incredibly, however, those going to nd out who that is born with nystagmus do not by as it’s gorgeous, red and see the world as constantly white swirls’. It was beautiful. shaking. The brain manages But when I was a few feet to ‘edit’ the bit when the eyes away, I realised it was a re slip sideways and translate hose curled up on the wall!” the remainder into the same, Osman admits that being still world that the rest of us visually impaired can also live in. be lonely; he loves sport but cannot play ball games. At Family support school, he could never see Osman grew up in Sussex the cricket ball as it hurtled with his mother Brenda, 77, towards him, so he quickly who also has nystagmus, and realised his limitations, his older brother Mat, bassist sticking to close-up sports, of the rock band Suede, who such as pool and darts. does not. He watches Fulham FC but His mother was cannot make out the players instrumental in making or the ball, until they are right him believe he could do in front of him. When he tells whatever he chose in life. people he has nystagmus, She allowed him to sit close they rarely understand why to the television because she “Nystagmus was never brought up in terms of stronger glasses won’t help. understood it allowed him The trademark dark, square to see detail that he would what you can and cannot do. My mum never, ever glasses he wears simply miss in everyday life. He was made a big deal of it” correct short sightedness but instantly enthralled, and this do nothing for the icker. love aair with TV has never stopped. After graduating, he immediately moved And like most suerers, he cannot drive She also never told him that his childhood into researching and then writing for TV. because his eyes are unable to gauge a busy dream of becoming a policeman would be “I don’t think people realise what an road fast enough. He reads slowly too, nding impossible with his poor eyesight. The reality important medium TV is, especially for anyone it tricky to scan words across a page. of what she felt was, of course, hidden from who has something that restricts their life,” he He also worries about blanking people, the young Richard. says. “It’s why I absolutely love TV so much, both colleagues and fans. He says he cannot “Nystagmus was never brought up in terms because of what it can bring to people.” recognise faces of friends just across the of what you can and cannot do,” he says. Osman is separated and has two children, street and walks past oblivious. He can “My mum never, ever made a big deal of it. It a daughter aged 20 and a son aged 18. He spot his daughter from a little further away was only when I rst had kids, when I had a says his visual impairment has also made him because he recognises the way she walks and daughter 20 years ago, that I remember my kinder, which has, in turn, made him popular her long black hair. mum saying, after all the excitement had died on Pointless. But Osman, as usual, is positive. down, ‘Have you noticed anything about her “I hope that all my life I have been on “I can see the huge benets it has brought eyes?’ I said, ‘No. Nothing at all,’ and there was the side of the underdog, because I always me. I’m probably a nicer person for having it, this look of relief on her face. slightly feel like one,” he says. “I always knew I know that is true. I’m better at my job. It has “I thought, you’ve been keeping that the world was going on a bit without me. genuinely brought me many, many things, bottled up for 32 years and you’ve never told I know lots of people feel like that, either this lack of being able to see what is going me you thought it was a big deal. What a because of physical limitations or emotionally. on.” wonderful mum you’ve been that you have And that is what I love about being on Given all that, would he have it cured? The been upset about this for so long and you Pointless, loving that wonderful feeling of speed of his reply says it all. have never, ever shown it to me, to not make Britishness and kindness and underdogness “In a heartbeat.” it an issue for me and it worked.” that you get in people. A lot of that comes Osman was never bullied at school over his through having what is supposed to be a ★ Credit: Victoria Fletcher/Mail on Sunday/ poor eyesight and refused to be ‘that kid who disability but is maybe an ability.” Solo Syndication sits at the front’.