Veteran DJ Johnnie Walker, 79, reveals he is stepping down from his BBC Radio 2 shows as he continues to live with terminal illness which has left him completely housebound

Veteran DJ Johnnie Walker has revealed he is stepping down from his BBC Radio 2 shows as he continues to live with a terminal illness which has left him completely housebound.

In a moving message during the show today, the 79-year-old read out a letter from a listener whose dad had loved the show, but had passed away in 2022 due to pulmonary fibrosis, which is the condition Johnnie has.

He then told his listeners that he has made the decision to bring his career to an end after 58 years.

‘The struggles I’ve had with doing the show and trying to sort of keep up a professional standard suitable for Radio 2 has been getting more and more difficult,’ he added. 

‘So I’ll be doing my last Sounds Of The 70s on the 27th of October, so I’ll make the last three shows as good as I possibly can’.

The long-time BBC Radio broadcaster, 79, who started his career on pirate station Radio Caroline, has been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – an inflammation of the lungs – for the past four years

Johnnie continued: ‘And by the way, I can also reveal not only my last Sounds Of The 70s, but the person taking over the show will be the one and only Bob Harris, so Bob Harris will be in charge of Sounds Of The 70s from the 3rd of November.’  

The DJ’s last episode of The Rock Show will air on Friday, October 25 (11pm to 12am), and his final episode of Sounds Of The 70s will air on Sunday, October 27 (3pm to 5pm). 

The long-time BBC Radio broadcaster who started his career on pirate station Radio Caroline, has been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – an inflammation of the lungs – for the past four years.  

He has been left housebound and needing round-the-clock care since January.

His departure marks the end of an era, as he has been a beloved figure in the world of radio since he began DJing for the BBC in April 1969.    

Sounds Of The 70s features classic tracks and nostalgic commentary, while The Rock Show showcases a variety of rock genres, and highlights both iconic and emerging artists. 

Johnnie’s contributions to radio have been significant, with a career spanning several decades. 

Fans and colleagues are sure to miss his presence, and there’s huge anticipation regarding Bob Harris taking over Sounds Of The 70s. 

The announcement to step back comes just weeks after it was revealed he has become so unwell he has been completely housebound since January, with his wife Tiggy Jarvis acting as his round-the-clock carer.

And a trip to London to broadcast from Wogan House on New Year’s Eve had devastating effects, meaning he has not left his house since, according to his wife.

He has been left housebound and needing round-the-clock care from his wife, Tiggy Jarvis (pictured together in 2019), since January

Tiggy said her husband has recorded his Radio 2 shows ‘wearing PJ’s, sat in a wheelchair with a nose canula feeding him oxygen 

Tiggy (pictured), herself a broadcaster and long-time producer, has said their lives have changed beyond ‘all recognition’

Tiggy, herself a broadcaster and long-time producer, has said she now acts as her husband’s ‘carer 24/7’ and their lives have changed beyond ‘all recognition’.

She wrote in Dorset Magazine: ‘I expected him to be tired the next day [after New Year’s Eve show], but something far worse happened. The effort had been too great on his already sick body. It was as if his health fell off a cliff.

‘The weeks that followed were a blur of nurses, doctors, oxygen machines and wheelchairs. In 24 hours, our lives had changed out of all recognition.

‘That was in January, and The Pirate has not left home since then.’

She said her husband has recorded his Radio 2 shows ‘wearing PJ’s, sat in a wheelchair with a nose canula feeding him oxygen’.

Tiggy said that the ‘shock’ she has experienced has been ‘profound’ and she was left ‘overwhelmed’ by how much support he needed, ‘how little’ she had and the fact their home was ‘starting to resemble a hospital’.

Tiggy has had to care for her husband before, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his colon just after their honeymoon in 2003.

Johnnie then had to care for his wife when, in 2013, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

But, she said, she is now 20 years older and is ‘exhausted by the end of each day’. A patron of Carers UK, she said she has seen a major change in the support and treatment for carers since the first time she did it, which left her with ‘form of PTSD’ that lasted throughout her marriage.

‘The good change is that the medics, friends and family alike ask how I am.’

The legendary DJ  pictured at Buckingham Palace after collecting his MBE for services to broadcasting

‘They all tell me that I must look after myself. I was even offered counselling by the GP’s surgery (who has time for that?!).

‘I am no longer invisible as a carer. I, too, am a human being with needs. Not just an unlucky wife.’ 

She said that Johnnie’s devoted listenership, who tune in every week to Sunday’s Sounds Of The 70s and Friday’s The Radio 2 Rock Show, ‘definitely get the best of him’, conceding: ‘That’s how it should be.’ She added: ‘He’s been a part of their lives for so long, and I’m so proud that he finds the strength each week to record his show.

‘I’m also proud of myself. Somehow, I’m finding the strength to give him the most steadfast support that I can.

‘When the caring role ends, my life will be very different. But I push that thought away.’ Despite his illness, Tiggy said her husband is ‘extraordinarily strong and determined individual who will not let his failing lungs and disability keep him down.’