He was studying the pre-Raphaelites at the time, “fascinated by the decadent Victorians”, and craved a lavish cascade of hair, but “I had nothing! I couldn’t get a corkscrew curl to save my life!” he says. The alopecia did help to make his recent hair loss feel livable, though. “I just said to my wife: ‘Oh shit, get the clippers out. I’m done with this.’ It was harder for her to do, because she’d never seen me with no hair. But she did come out with a great line when my eyebrows went. She said: ‘Darling, you look like they pulled you out the mould before you’d finished.’” What’s the point of mulling over the old shit that’s caused trouble?” Myers adds. “If we got together, are we going to sit there, and I’m going: ‘My mum had MS,’ and you, your dad with kidney failure? No, we’re going to go fishing and get drunk and have a good time. Together, we’ve brought each other quite a bit of happiness.”

With their unique blend of tasty recipes, cheeky humour and irresistible enthusiasm, the Hairy Bikers have become Britain's favourite food heroes. The Hairy Bikers are having a tough time. David Myers has no hair and Si King has no bike. It sounds like an existential crisis. King’s problem is easily fixed because he is “in between motorcycles” and can’t wait to get his leg over the saddle again. But Myers is 14 sessions into a course of chemotherapy, with six to go, and his year “hasn’t been normal” to say the least. He prefers not to specify the type of cancer “because everybody then goes Googling, everybody becomes an amateur doctor … And I don’t want to be judged – yet,” he adds. “A huge inconvenience,” he says ceremoniously, “is the best way to describe it.”Myers can relate. His daughter is in the process of buying a first flat and confronting the “possibility that the mortgage may double”. As a student, he used to sit in Karl Marx’s chair at the British Library – was that a statement of ideology? “No,” he says, “it was nothing political.” He just thought it was cool. When Myers began chemo, did King consider shaving his head in sympathy? ‘If he’d asked us, I probably would have’ Myers wants to return to work next year. “I’m hoping. Hand on my heart, I am. It’s going to take work and physiotherapy to get myself stronger,” he says. “But that’s going to be a hell of a day. That pizza down the pub is going to be quite special.”

I tell you,” Myers says, “I’ll feel I’ve made it when I get the all-clear from this bloody cancer. That’s going to be completely life-changing, life-affirming. And life never will be the same again.” The recipes here are sensible. Nothing is too cheffy. These are goods that we can imagine ourselves making and enjoying. All the ingredients are readily available and nothing outrageously expensive, well, apart from the butter. I certainly am now, given the hand that’s been dealt me this year,” Myers says. “I think about the past with huge, great jealousy, and affection. Watching some of our old episodes on the telly when I’m ill, I don’t look like myself. And I look at myself there with my best mate, thinking, you know … I remember I said to Lil, ‘That used to be me.’ ‘No,’ she said. ‘That is you.’” But over the seven months since his diagnosis in late March, it must have been hard to keep his old self in mind. For the Hairy Bikers, nothing says love and home like the smell of a cake in the oven, a homemade loaf or a freshly baked pie.

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Put the golden syrup and butter in a saucepan and melt them together over a gentle heat. Make a well in the flour and pour in the melted syrup and butter, then add the egg yolk and stem ginger. This is not intended to be a full statement of all your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations. Full details of your rights under the Distance Selling Regulations are available in the UK from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or your Local Authority's Trading Standards Office. It’s easy to imagine the evening unspooling as they discovered their common ground – there is so much of it. Both were bullied as children: King for his weight, Myers for alopecia. Both came from families of “grafters” – King’s dad working on ships, Myers’ at the paper mill in Barrow-in-Furness. Both had much older siblings, and seriously ill parents: King was eight when his father died, while Myers’ mother was diagnosed with MS when he was seven. But, no, they say, they didn’t talk about any of this. That was the great thing about writing their 2015 autobiography, Blood, Sweat and Tyres, King says. “We found out quite a lot about each other.” For King and Myers, there is no such thing as on- and off-camera selves. “As Dave often says, we’re not complicated enough to be anyone else,” King says. When they worked as crew, Myers and King were aware of performers as “the talent”, and I wonder at what point they realised they had become the talent. “We never have,” King says immediately. “Never have,” Myers agrees. In fact, when they filmed one of the first BBC programmes, the crew went for pizza, and “I got kind of nervous. I said to the director: ‘Have we pissed the crew off? Nobody’s asked us for supper.’ He said: ‘Normally the talent don’t eat with the crew.’ It broke the ice. But that wasn’t us at all. Crikey, no.”

Si and Dave have made it even easier - and more delicious - to eat meat free. These recipes are a real turnip for the books ... so get cooking and enjoy. Dust your work surface with flour. Take two-thirds of the dough and roll it out to fill a 20cm round cake or pie tin. Put the pastry-lined tin and the remaining dough in the fridge to chill until ready to fill. Myers butts in. “My wife said the same thing. ‘I’ll shave mine out of support.’ I said: ‘Don’t do that because, then, you do realise, we can’t go out together?’ Not being sexist, but I think [baldness] is easier for a bloke.” Myers says he is proud of King for his work this year, but has King felt less of a hairy biker for being alone? “Wow. No?” he asks, folding his arms. “How do I answer that?” From the ultimate veggie curries to the perfect crowd-pleasing tray bakes, satisfying soups, pastas and pies to a veggie twist on burgers, barbecues and a banging breakfast brunch, The Hairy Bikers' Veggie Feasts is bursting with meat-free delights you'll turn to time and time again, all made with ingredients that can be bought easily and won't cost the earth.

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We are like a cog and a wheel,” King says. He is the younger one, at 55, with a silvery mane while Myers, 65, is famed for his handlebar moustache, though of course the chemo has put paid to that. People muddle them up, but “we go along with it, or tell them our name’s Brian”, Myers says. He always stands on King’s left. It has been that way since they got out of a lift in their first show nearly 20 years ago and worried about continuity between cuts. “It’s got to the point where it feels uncomfortable the other way round,” Myers says. Even “just as mates walking down the road, we keep our proper sides”. Mix thoroughly into a dough. The dough might seem quite crumbly at first, but don’t worry, it will clump together eventually. When Myers began his treatment, did King consider shaving his head in sympathy? “Er, no. I mean, if he’d asked us, I probably would have.” Put the flour, butter and a generous pinch of salt in a food processor and process until completely combined – the mixture should go just beyond the fine breadcrumbs stage and start clumping together. Add the cheese and process again until the mixture forms into a dough. You can do all this by hand if you prefer, of course.

I would say the love. And I appreciate your warmth,” Myers says. “When we get together – there’s always the big man hugs. Sometimes, when he tries to kiss me on the lips, it gets a bit …” He purses his lips and wipes at them furiously. “But I was well grateful for it last week, so I’m not complaining. I think it’s the shared experiences that’s the best, because we do understand.” To assemble the pie, press about a third of the cheese mixture over the base layer of pastry. Top with a layer of potatoes, then repeat with another layer of the cheese mixture. Add a second layer of potatoes, then top with the remaining cheese mixture. Press everything down quite firmly.

‘Ready To Go’ - What is it?

Si and Dave have been on a mission. They've travelled the world to discover the very best meat-free recipes that shake off the dull and add the delicious. There's no meaty sacrifice here, just fantastic food. Selling in excess of 6 million copies of their books, Si and Dave continue to entertain and inspire with their innovative publishing and heartwarming TV shows. Put the flour, ginger, bicarbonate of soda and sugar in a large bowl and add a generous pinch of salt. Goods that by reason of their nature, cannot be returned - (Items such as underwear, where the 'hygiene patch' has been removed, or cosmetics where the seal has been broken).