Radio 2 presenter Johnnie Walker: ‘I’m not worried about dying’

Walker hosts The Rock Show and Sounds Of The 70s on BBC Radio 2 but announced on October 6 he will be retiring.

DJ Johnnie Walker is stepping down from presenting Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show on BBC Radio 2 at the end of October (Fiona Hanson/WPA/PA) (PA Archive)

Terminally-ill DJ Johnnie Walker has said he is “not worried about dying”, but has shared his fears about what his last moments may be like due to his health condition.

The BBC radio presenter announced earlier in the month that he was retiring from radio after 58 years due to ill health, having been previously diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

The 79-year-old told listeners he was stepping down from presenting Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show on BBC Radio 2 at the end of October.

“I’m not worried about dying. I have an unshakeable belief in an after-life. I think it’s a beautiful place. Unless you’ve done some awful things down here, I don’t think there’s anything to fear,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.

“What I am a little bit frightened of is what the end will be like when you’re fighting for breath. It doesn’t sound a very nice way to go.”

His condition IPF is one “in which the lungs become scarred and breathing becomes increasingly difficult”, according to the NHS.

The NHS website says it is not clear what causes the condition and that treatments can reduce the rate at which it worsens, but that there is “currently no treatment that can stop or reverse the scarring of the lungs”.

Birmingham-born presenter Walker began his radio career in 1966 on Swinging Radio England, an offshore pirate station.

He later moved to Radio Caroline, where he became a household name hosting the hugely popular night-time show.

Walker went on to join BBC Radio 1 in 1969, continuing until 1976, with him later moving to San Francisco, where he recorded a weekly show broadcast on Radio Luxembourg.

He returned to the BBC in the early 1980s and has remained ever since.

Walker is wheelchair-bound and relies on oxygen from a machine, with his wife of more than two decades, Tiggy, caring for him, the paper says.

Announcing his radio departure on air on October 6, Walker told listeners he was “making a very sad announcement” and vowed he would “make the last three shows as good as I possibly can”.

Radio 2 boss Helen Thomas said in a statement that Walker was “quite simply a broadcasting legend”, adding: “We are in awe of his incredible legacy which speaks for itself.”

Former The Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris will take over from him on Sounds of the 70s while Shaun Keaveny becomes the new presenter of The Rock Show on November 1.

Walker’s last episode of The Rock Show airs on October 25 from 11pm-12am and his final episode of Sounds of the 70s will air on Sunday October 27 from 3pm-5pm.

He told the Daily Mail: “It will be a huge wrench to hang up my headphones. I feel quite a connection with my listeners because of the passing years.

“I get emails from people who say, ‘I was with you when you were on Radio Caroline’, so we’re talking 58 years ago. Imagine what we’ve been through together.”

He said: “I feel a great sadness. But I didn’t want to reach a point where the BBC was going to say, ‘Johnnie, we don’t think you’re well enough. Your breathlessness is affecting the show too much’.

“I’d rather it was my decision. It just seemed to be the right time because it was getting increasingly challenging to record my shows.”