“My friend the rebel DJ” - Bob on Johnnie Walker

The presenter who announced Walker’s death on BBC Radio 2 last week says his warmth and adventurous spirit set the bar for broadcasting.

Johnnie Walker was one of the truly great broadcasters. His warmth defined his broadcasting style, his personality gave it depth.

“I will always remember Johnnie as a broadcaster who set the bar for all of us. His warmth and humour enriched our lives. But even more than that, I will always remember the support he gave me at a time when I most needed a friend.”

He was stubborn, rebellious, fearless, generous and kind. He was possessed of a fighting spirit so strong that he somehow kept going for far longer than anyone expected when, gripped by idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the most pernicious of health challenges, he was struggling to even draw breath in the last few months of his life.

Johnnie and I first met in the early 1970s. We’d bumped into each other casually at Radio 1 but I remember talking to him on The Old Grey Whistle Test about the arrival of the first commercial radio station. We just got on immediately. He was very rebellious — and I liked that about him. It was a time when we were both living a free-spirited, hazy 1970s lifestyle in London.