Forever Young : The Autobiography

With a record five-and-a-half-million listeners and 30 years as BBC Radio 2's top presenter, Sir Jimmy Young left the BBC at Christmas 2002.

It was a controversial departure behind which lies a story he is only now prepared to reveal. In an extraordinary career which first brought him fame - and two consecutive hits - as a singer in the 1950s, Jimmy Young turned to radio when the hits began to dry up. His programme was soon to break the mould of other DJs with a mix of music, recipes and topical items.

Always innovative, his was the first BBC show to broadcast from Moscow during the Cold War.

Other broadcasts from around the world followed. Eventually the depth and breadth of his popularity would gain exclusives from many of the leading politicians of his day - from Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair.

When his departure from Radio 2 was threatened, MPs mounted a campaign to keep him. Despite his high profile, he has always remained a very private person, seldom giving interviews.

This autobiography tells his story.