Bill Turnbull admitted that while on the Classic FM airwaves he hears songs he would like played at his funeral. The former BBC Breakfast favourite identified a few that he is keen to have, saying it would be “nice”. In a new interview in this week’s Radio Times, the 63-year-old spoke candidly about being diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer less than two years ago. He recently suffered an adverse reaction to a medical procedure, after being given between 10 and 18 years to live by doctors.
Bill commented: “When I’m recording the Classic FM show, I hear pieces, and think ‘That would be nice at the funeral!’”
Revealing the scores in question, he named Benedictus from The Armed Man, a 1999 Mass by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.
“The violin part in that represents for me the triumph of life over death,” the BBC star stated.
He went on to reference a recent composition called Der Klang Der Offen-barung Des Gottlichen by Kjartan Sveinsson, a former Sigur Ros keyboardist.
Bill continued: “That is one of the best pieces of new music I’ve heard in years. I recommend part four particularly.”
He also said he would like Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball: “I love the note of defiance in that song: come and give me what you’ve got and I’ll stand up to it!”
After the interviewer remarked on his openness after previously being a very private man despite his job on screen.
He laughed: “It’s now become a sort of public event.
“My agent said to me at the beginning, ‘One thing we don’t want, Bill, is for you to become the poster boy for prostate cancer.’ But here I am!”
It was in March last year that Bill went public with his cancer diagnosis while appearing on a charity special for The Great British Bake Off.
He had first visited his doctor after a change in “pee pattern” and a dull pain, but he said he wished he’d acted quicker.
“I’m cross with myself,” Bill said at the time. “Maybe if I’d got it earlier and stopped it at the prostate, I’d be in a much better state.
“Those first few days were probably the worst of my life. It’s hard to know what to say, when you want to protect them. That first moment is a shell shock.”
Bill has been married to Sarah McCombie since 1988, and they have three grown-up children: Flora, Henry and Will.
Meanwhile, it comes months after Bill Turnbull reflected on his appearance as he revealed he had finished his chemotherapy.
Read the full interview with Bill Turnbull in this week’s Radio Times – out now.
Bill Turnbull’s Classic FM show continues today at 10am.
