At 72 and after more than 50 years as a broadcasting legend, he may be a greyer, slightly more sensible version of its former self but the voice remains unmistakably Tony Blackburn: a bubbly home counties/mid Atlantic hybrid, conveying a world of sunshine and fun.

In spirit he’s still the toothy, Beatle-fringed, 20-something who jumped Radio Caroline’s pirate ship for the BBC in 1967 where he spun Radio 1’s first disc and announced the station’s “exciting new sound” to the nation.

Including kmfm, he’s hosting six programmes across the radio network.

He’s also starring in ITV’s Flockstars, a baffling new reality show in which celebrities train to be shepherds.

It’s been a rocky marriage at times, but the man’s still in love with his first and favourite medium.

“I enjoy radio so much,” he said.

“The great thing about working for six stations is that I don’t get involved in the politics.

“I turn up every week so people are quite happy to see me and don’t realise what an irritating little sod I am. By the time they’ve realised that, I’ve gone anyway.”

THE POP STAR

Tony settled on a broadcasting career having failed to set the world alight as a singer.

Decca was among the record companies to pass on his talents, reportedly telling him he “looked too much like Cliff Richard”.

“I turn up every week so people are quite happy to see me and don’t realise what an irritating little sod I am..." - Tony Blackburn

A perma-grinned “funster”, albeit one with a fierce determination, Tony ensured his showbiz ambitions wouldn’t be denied.

At his Radio 1 Breakfast Show peak he had more than 20m listeners devouring his cheesy patter as the 1970s became the medallion-swinging glory years for Tony and his DJ ilk.

They were pop music’s messianic messengers, generating more headlines and hysteria than many of the bands themselves. Tony admits they were “incredible” times; but the music industry and its associated mediums are fickle mistresses.

One moment you’re announcing the week’s No.1 to a nation transfixed; the next you’re playing Puff the Magic Dragon on the child-friendly request show, Junior Choice, which is where Tony found himself as the 1980s dawned.

“I hated it,” he said. He courted his bosses’ displeasure on a couple of notable occasions during his Radio 1 tenure.

During the strike-riven early 1970s, Tony dropped the jokes to deliver a live anti-union diatribe.

“I was doing pantomime at the time and the lights kept going out because of all the strikes, which I found really annoying, actually,” he remembers.

There was also the “don’t leave me Tessa” episode, when his emotions got the better of him again as he broadcast a serious of soppy messages and love songs in attempt to win back his first wife, actress Tessa Wyatt.

However, the ultimate reason for his departure from the “nation’s favourite” station in 1984 was merely a matter of age. “I left Radio 1 when I was about 38 or 39 or something, which is far too old,” he said.

“I chatted men and women up over the air, so I couldn’t be accused of being sexist..." - Tony Blackburn

Eventually a reinvented Tony began surfing the commercial airwaves on Radio London with his corny banter and revealed his passion for soul music.

“I chatted men and women up over the air, so I couldn’t be accused of being sexist,” he laughed.

“We advised people not to listen if they were offended, which of course, drew them in.”

THE COMEBACK KING

He toured a spin-off of the radio show, and the hugely successfully Soul Night Out saw him send himself up as a 1970s-style love God for adoring fans who remembered him first time around. By 2002 the comeback was truly on.

His sweet nature, winning self-effacement – not to mention a voracious log-collecting obsession – saw him voted King of the Jungle in the first series of TV survival show, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. It didn’t lead to the untold riches of old, just an offer to host more radio – which suited him fine. In 2010, his career arc came full circle when he was welcomed back by the Beeb to host Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops.

After a near-three decade gap, it marked a return to the broadcasting mainstream – but upstream, downstream... it’s all the same to Tony. As long as there’s a stream in need of a septuagenarian bearing bags of bonhomie and bad jokes, there’s no one better qualified. He said: “When I came to kmfm, the owner said, ‘why are you here, you’re Tony Blackburn?’

I told him, ‘it doesn’t bother me whether its local or national radio... somebody’s asked me to be here’.