Veteran Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker, who returned to the airwaves in March 2004 after treatment for cancer, received the Gold Award from Elton John.

Elton told him: "When I was asked to present this award I didn`t hesitate.

"New artists depend on DJs to play our records, and when Johnny first started on the radio he championed me and did me so many favours. I`m in a time in my life when I have to remember these favours."

Sir Elton added: "He`s come through such hardship in the last couple of years. He is a fighter in every sense of that word. I can`t think of anyone better to get it."

Receiving his award, Walker then joked about his cancer saying, "The NHS gets a lot of criticism, but you wouldn`t believe the amount of drugs I had last year and they were all free."

He went on: "Virtually every family gets touched by the disease of cancer" but that he had been touched by the amount of support he has received during his battle with the disease.

Awards presenters at the ceremony at London`s Grosvenor House on May 12, 2004 included singer Danni Minogue, former EastEnders actor Martin Kemp, singing legend Lulu, jazz star Amy Winehouse, poet laureate Andrew Motion and newsreader Carol Barnes, who lost her daughter in a recent skydiving accident, and Penny Lancaster, who arrived with boyfriend Rod Stewart.

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