The Yorkshire Vet's Julian Norton bares all to tell BBC's The Naked Podcast about mental health

The Yorkshire-based podcast involves noted guests stripping off and talking about their lives.

Hosts Kat Harbourne and Jenny Eells, BBC Radio Sheffield reporters, join Julian from their studio with their clothes off and delve into conversations with him about growing up and going through puberty as a "skinny kid" from Castleford.

“When I was a youngster, I was interested in riding my BMX, going to the Greyhound track and looking after my ferret.

"I felt quite alienated and was quite shy and quite quiet. I remember things like school changing rooms and showers – I’d be running in the opposite direction.

"But as time goes by you realise nobody’s actually that bothered. I think it’s refreshing to realise everybody’s bodies are so different.

"And I think it’s great to celebrate the difference than feel like you’re forced into a society that wants people to look a certain way. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a smooth chest or massive biceps or whatever – as long as you’re healthy and you’re happy that’s the main thing."

As well as relating some humorous tales of mishaps while on the job, including ending up neck-deep in a sheep dip and conducting self-surgery following a kick to the face from a horse, Julian - who works in the Boroughbridge area of North Yorkshire and writes columns for The Yorkshire Post - touches upon the darker side of his profession and the struggles many like him face with mental health.

He tells listeners that in the veterinary profession he "can count on more than one hand people who I am quite close to who’ve either tried to kill themselves" or have died by suicide.

"So it’s a very big issue in the veterinary world. It’s something that is good to talk about and good to focus on.

"I’ve coped OK, generally speaking, through my professional life.

"It’s a very difficult job as a vet, you’re working long hours and weekends are often taken up being on call so you can’t do the things normal people might like to do.

"If you’re having a bad day and you’re a bit knackered you can’t necessarily go out to the pub with your mates 'cause you’ve got a beeper in your pocket.

"So the pressure is kind of relentless and you don’t get a lot of free time. You’re constantly having to be at someone’s beck and call….my life is totally compromised and it does get you down.

"The high points always seem to come at just the right moments to scoop you out of what might’ve been a bit of a trough."

Despite welcoming thousands of new lives into the world through his work, the veterinary surgeon reveals that becoming a father himself was still an eye-opening experience.

“I’ve seen thousands of deliveries as a vet.

"I thought, I know the process – it’ll be fine.

"When it actually came to happen and this baby appeared with a massive head, screaming and squawking and looking a funny colour and all covered in slime…from thinking I would be very relaxed and comfortable about it – I was really traumatised to see what my wife had gone through to deliver a baby and thought I would never, never let a cow go through that!”

Julian also talks about the physical extremes he has put his body through, including breaking world records and cross mountain ski races, and discloses to Kat and Jen which animals are the best lovers.

Other figures from Yorkshire have previously been on the podcast, including Look North weather presenter Keeley Donovan, Gogglebox's the Reverend Kate Bottley and Women's Equality Party deputy leader Dr Hannah Barham-Brown.

This episode with Julian is available now on the BBC.