Gill revealed at the same time that the news of his cancer had prompted a successful proposal of marriage to his partner of 23 years, Nicola Formby.

He said in a recent interview that he didn't "feel he'd been cheated of anything".

“I realise I don't have a bucket list,” he said. “I don't feel I've been cheated of anything. I'd like to have gone to Timbuktu, and there are places I will be sorry not to see again.

"But actually, because of the nature of my life and the nature of what happened to me in my early life – my [alcohol] addiction – I know I have been very lucky.

“At the last minute I found something I could do. Somebody said: why don't you watch television, eat good food and travel and then write about it? And, as lives go, that's pretty good."