31 December 2024<\/time>\n <\/p>\nVeteran BBC radio DJ Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79 on New Year\u2019s Eve (31.12.24).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Johnnie Walker with his wife Tiggy<\/p>\n
\nThe ‘Sounds of the 70s’ presenter stepped away from broadcasting two months ago, after 58 years on air, due to ill health caused by the symptoms of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.<\/p>\n
\nJohnnie\u2019s passing was announced by his long-time friend and colleague Bob Harris – who took over BBC Radio 2’s \u2018Sounds of the 70s\u2019 show after Walker’s retirement.<\/p>\n
\nAfter playing the David Bowie song \u2018Golden Years\u2019, Harris said to his listeners: \u201cI\u2019ve known Johnnie since the 1960s when I first started listening to him on pirate radio and we know what an incredible, wonderful, superb broadcaster he was.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe also know how passionate he was about his music, went out on a limb many times to defend the music that he loved, and he was passionate about radio, and as the \u201860s moved into the \u201870s he and I became increasingly close friends, a friendship that endured right up to the present day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBob added that Johnnie sent him messages of luck when he took over the \u2018Sounds of the 70s\u2019 show.<\/p>\n
\nHe said: “Johnnie and I were exchanging texts through the time after I took over the show, he wished me well at the beginning of the first programme that I did. \u2018Sending you lots of love,\u2019 he said, \u2018relax and enjoy, the listeners are lovely, and they\u2019ll look after you, all the very best from Johnnie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJohnnie\u2019s wife Tiggy Walker paid tribute to her husband following his passing, saying: \u201cI couldn\u2019t be more proud of Johnnie \u2013 how he kept broadcasting almost to the end and with what dignity and grace he coped with his debilitating lung disease. He remained his charming, humorous self to the end, what a strong, amazing man. It has been a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAnd if I may say \u2013 what a day to go. He\u2019ll be celebrating New Year\u2019s Eve with a stash of great musicians in heaven. One year on from his last live show. God bless that extraordinary husband of mine, who is now in a place of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBBC Director General Tim Davie remembered Johnnie\u2019s contribution to the organisations stations in the wake of his death.<\/p>\n
\nIn a statement, he said: \u201cWe are deeply saddened by the news of Johnnie\u2019s passing and our thoughts are with his family and friends, as well as everyone at Radio 2.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cJohnnie was a pop radio pioneer and a champion of great music, entertaining millions of beloved listeners on the BBC across decades, most recently hosting two shows on Radio 2. No one loved the audience as much as Johnnie and we loved him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJohnnie began his career as a pirate DJ in the \u201860s on the offshore station Swinging Radio England, then he had a show on Radio Caroline, before joining Radio 1 in 1969. <\/p>\n
\nBut he left the station after causing controversy by describing the Bay City Rollers as \u201cmusical garbage\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nAfter working in California for a period of time, Johnnie returned to the UK in the early \u201880s and re-joined Radio 1 in 1987 to present the Saturday afternoon show \u2018The Stereo Sequence\u2019 before joining Radio 2, eventually taking on the Drivetime slot.<\/p>\n
\nIn 2020, Johnnie began broadcasting his shows from his Dorset home as a result of the side-effects of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which causes the lungs to scar and thicken.<\/p>\n
\nBack in June, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Johnnie revealed that he and Tiggy had made all the arrangements for his funeral and spilled that his wife wanted him to make his final goodbye with Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u2018Born To Run\u2019 playing.<\/p>\n
\nHe said: “I don\u2019t think we want to reveal the details. We need to keep a showbiz element of surprise. Although Tiggy has said that after the service she wants the hearse to go up the high street to the crematorium blasting out Springsteen\u2019s ‘Born to Run’.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"31 December 2024 Veteran BBC radio DJ Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79 on New Year\u2019s Eve (31.12.24). Johnnie Walker with his wife Tiggy The ‘Sounds of the 70s’ presenter stepped away from broadcasting two months ago, after 58 years on air, due to ill health caused by the symptoms of idiopathic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5706,10263,10264],"class_list":{"0":"post-141298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-johnnie-walker","9":"tag-tiggy-walker","10":"tag-tim-davie"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}