AFTER failing his A-Levels, Johnnie Walker got a job as a car mechanic at the age of 16 and then became a car salesman.

In the evenings, he would go to discos and DJ. Soon he had to choose between being a DJ and selling cars.

He said: “When I was younger I had bad acne, which made me shy. Being a DJ was a way to be extrovert without people seeing you. But I loved records, the equipment and seeing people dancing and enjoying themselves.”

In May 1966, he worked for Radio England and then in October 1966, started working for Radio Caroline – a British pirate radio station.

He added: “We would stay for two weeks on ship, three miles from the coast with millions of people listening to the music we played. The government forced the pirate stations to close in 1967, so I left and joined Radio One in 1969.”

He stayed with the BBC and now presents Sounds of the 70s on Sundays and the Radio 2 rock show on Saturdays.

“There has been so much success with Sounds of the 60s, that I wanted to try other decades. And the 70s were a peak time for me” Johnnie explained. “I introduced so many up and coming artists (well they were then) such as Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and so on.”

DJ Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s tour will be in Westlands in Yeovil on Friday, April 3 2020 at 7:30pm. To find out more visit westlandsyeovil.co.uk