Tributes to broadcasting 'icon' Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker was a patron of the Pharos Trust for two decades

An Essex charity has paid tribute to its patron and broadcasting "icon" Johnnie Walker.

The DJ died on Tuesday, two months after calling time on his 58-year radio career because of ill health.

Presenter 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.

Harwich-based Pharos Trust said Walker had "paved the way" for the success of the ship LV18, which once hosted pirate radio projects off the Essex coast.

His DJ career began at the age of 21, when he was first given a chance to play records on 'Swinging' Radio England, a boat moored four miles off the Essex coast.

The boat was one of a number of floating stations that had taken advantage of a loophole in the law that allowed them to get round the BBC's monopoly on the UK airwaves to bring the sound of 60s pop to the nation's radios - something the BBC had up to that point largely resisted.

Johnnie Walker spent almost 60 years on the air as a radio DJ

The Pharos Trust, where Walker had been a patron for two decades, said it was "saddened" by news.

It said: "Johnnie's illustrious career intersected with the LV18 during his many pirate BBC Essex broadcasts. Those broadcasts were a part of our own foundation and paved the way for the success of our own projects."

Tony O'Neill, chairman of the Pharos Trust, said: "We have some wonderful memories of Johnnie... he was an absolute icon.

"I know that the whole nation is reeling from this terrible news. Our thoughts go out to Tiggy his wife and his whole family."

Mr O'Neill said the trust hoped to produce a day of broadcasting in tribute to Walker at a later date.

Walker was on air when Radio Caroline and other pirate stations were forced to close