Interview: DJ Johnnie Walker

3:11pm Friday 10th October 2008

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YOU'RE more used to hearing his voice than seeing him in person but veteran DJ Johnnie Walker is going on the road with a show that’s coming to Darwen.

THERE’S something slightly unnerving about interviewing a man you have heard hundreds of times on the radio.

It’s the fact that THAT voice is talking directly to you.

It’s an experience which theatregoers around the country are going to get the chance to share as Radio Two DJ Johnnie Walker embarks on a nationwide Audience With . . . tour which comes to Darwen Library Theatre later this month But did Johnnie take some persuading to come out from behind the microphone — a role in which he usually puts others in the spotlight?

“I really took that decision a couple of years ago when I decided to write my autobiography,” he said. “With the book I decided to say ‘this is me’ — although you do wonder if anyone will want to know about your life.”

Having completed the book, Johnnie appeared at a number of literary festivals and the idea for An Audience With . . . was born.

“I got a lot of calls from theatres asking me if I’d appear there and it developed from there,” he said. “The first half of the show is me telling some anecdotes and stories about my life and then we open it up for a question and answer session. We’ve only done a few shows so far but people are always taking me by surprise with their questions.”

Certainly Johnnie has plenty to talk about.

From the pirate radio days on Radio Caroline to becoming one of the top DJs on first Radio One and then Radio Two, Johnnie has met most of the influential figures in the music scene over the past 40 years.

But is he a frustrated musician?.

“I think I was unlucky where I grew up,” said Johnnie. “There were not a lot of local bands and I don’t really think I was much of a musician. I went to a school which only taught classical music and at the time I thought that learning an instrument would be so boring. I trained as a mechanic and I probably had a good future in a garage but it was either the motor trade or becoming a DJ. A lot of people advised me against it but I chose the DJ option and within a couple of days I was working on pirate radio.”

After two years on Radio Caroline, Johnnie moved to Radio One where he stayed for eight years before leaving after insisting of playing album tracks and standing up to his Radio One bosses.

He spent several months touring America in a camper van before moving to the US for a time.

“It was such a great experience to go to the States,” he said. “I had always had this fascination with America and its music .”

Johnnie returned to England in the 1980s and worked first back at Radio One and then on Radio Two.

A well-documented cancer scare saw him temporarily take a break from the station but he now hosts the breakfast show — a role he splits with Terry Wogan — and also a Sunday afternoon show.

For all the major stars he has interviewed, is there anyone Johnnie still has on his list?

“I would like to have a proper sit-down interview with Neil Young,” he said.

“He’s someone I haven’t interviewed properly yet.”

An Audience with Johnnie Walker, Darwen Library Theatre, Monday, October 27. Details from the box office on 01254 706006.