Danny Baker

Just saw the link on the 5 Live blog that talks about Danny Baker's statement, released today, that he's receiving treatment for cancer. It's fairly obvious from the comments on his blog, and here, that lots of us are wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

Funny thing is, when he was all over TV like a rash in the mid-90s I had a strangely ambivalent attitude to him. I never quite got on with the chirpy cockernee schtick that served him so well. It kind of reached its nadir when he did his Radio 1 weekend show.  But it wasn't him, it was me. As I heard him more later on (and saw TV Heroes), he really started to grow on me. And I realised just what a gem this guy was

When Jonathan Ross announced he was off to pastures new earlier this year, I hoped that Dan would move across to Radio2 on a Saturday and repeat what he'd done when Ross was on suspension - steal his show from under his nose and make it a million times better than  floppy haired twonk who couldn't say his r's properly.

Still, that just meant he could hang out on 5Live. Which made Saturday mornings, with him and Fighting Talk, an unalloyed treat.  So my reaction to the news that he's going to be intermittently presenting while 'enjoying' the dubious pleasures of chemo is that he get well soon. Britain needs blokes like Danny Baker.