James Blunt says he developed scurvy from eating an all meat diet to stick it to vegans | NME

James Blunt has revealed that he once developed scurvy from eating an all meat and condiment diet to spite vegans.

In an interview on Jessie Ware‘s Table Manners podcast, Blunt revealed that he contracted the illness commonly associated with seafaring pirates while he was at university.

Discussing his time studying aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology at the University of Bristol in the ’90s, Blunt said, “On the sociology side of things there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarian or vegans.”

“So out of principle,” he continued, “I decided I’d become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe with some mayonnaise.

• Read More: Jessie Ware – ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ review: future-facing production and heady ‘80s sounds

“And it took me about six to eight weeks to get very unhealthy and see a doctor, who then said, ‘I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy.’”

For those who aren’t acquainted with what scurvy actually is, the disease is caused by a lack of vitamin C over a long period of time (at least a month with little or no vitamin C in your diet).

To combat the illness, the doctor told him he had to drink orange juice every day, which then gave him acid reflux.

In non-scurvy news, Jessie Ware is fresh off the back of the release of her latest album ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’.

In a review of the album, NME said, “An intoxicating cocktail of seductive beats, exhilarating choruses and sleek production, ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ is pure escapism.

“Moving away from the wistful melancholy that permeated her last record, here Jessie Ware takes to the dancefloor – and you’ll want to join her.”