On Monday the 37-year-old former Newsnight presenter officially took over the lunchtime slot vacated by veteran DJ Sir Jimmy Young.

He began the show by playing Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road - a move seen by critics as a gesture to stamp his identity on the programme from the start.

In his choice of artists - which also included post-punk band New Order - Vine "attempted to exorcise the ghost of the Jimmy Young show", said The Daily Telegraph.

Vine has the right tone: he manages to express the listeners' views without seeming either to endorse or condescend to them The Independent

Critics appraising Vine's performance were quick to include details of his predecessor's attack on the BBC the previous day in which Young had denounced the corporation's "frightening" and "brutal" history.

Vine's first guest - Home Secretary David Blunkett - had told him: "You have a hard act to follow."

The Telegraph added: "As for references to his illustrious predecessor, that was that for the whole two hours of Vine's show."

The transition was "not absolutely seamless", said The Independent, referring to a slip-up by Vine in announcing Elvis Presley but playing Elvis Costello.

Sir Jimmy's comments were picked up by the critics

"All the same, he slipped comfortably into the more conciliatory interviewing style and the plain common-sense mindset demanded by this slot," the paper said.

The Guardian praised his variety of guests and discussion topics - "as if to make the point that new life will be breathed into the programme through a proliferation of voices..."

A conversation with the mother of murdered estate agent Tim Robinson was "pacey and sharply handled".

However, the Guardian's website was less favourable - comparing Vine's diction to that of spoof Radio Norwich DJ Dave Clifton in BBC TV's Alan Partridge comedy series.

Vine has "already picked up the distinctly 70s habit of pronouncing his Ts as if they were Ds. And it's very irridading, mate", said the critic.

"Perhaps he was just trying too hard to sound like a disc jockey."