Radio presenter Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79, two months after calling time on his 58-year career because of ill health. DJ Bob Harris, who took over BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 70s show after Walker's retirement, announced his former colleague's death live on the station on Tuesday.

Johnnie Walker, one of the BBC’s longest-serving radio DJs, has died. Walker died earlier today at 79 following a long battle with lung disease, two months after calling time on his radio career. Tributes flooded in from BBC top brass.

Walker first rose to fame among British music fans as a disc jockey on pirate station Radio Caroline in the Sixties, and later became a favourite among BBC listeners, even if he did hate the Bay City