Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79, it has been announced.

Walker, who hosted Radio 2’s Sounds of the 70s and The Radio 2 Rock Show, began his career as a pirate DJ in the 60s on Radio Caroline, before joining Radio 1 in 1969. He left the station after causing controversy by describing the Bay City Rollers as “musical garbage” and clashing with his bosses over an insistence on playing album tracks.

After a period broadcasting in California, he returned to the UK in the early 80s and rejoined Radio 1 in 1987 to present Saturday afternoon show The Stereo Sequence, as well as working on a number of stations including Radio 5 (now 5 Live), before joining Radio 2, eventually taking on the Drivetime slot.

In June 2003, he announced to the nation that he was taking time off to be treated for cancer, eventually beating his diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the colon. He returned nine months later and won the Gold award at the Sonys. In 2006 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s new year honours list.

In 2020, Walker began broadcasting his shows from his Dorset home as a result of being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an inflammation of the lungs.

In June 2024, Walker and his wife, Tiggy, talked about having been informed by doctors that the condition was terminal. On their podcast, Walker and Walker: Johnnie and Tiggy, Tiggy said that Johnnie had been told by a consultant to “prepare to go at any moment.”

“[Tiggy] very lovingly helps me get into bed and gives me a nice kiss good night, and then she has to wonder whether I’m still going to be alive in the morning,” said Johnnie. “Which must be pretty hard for her”.