Paul Gambaccini, 77, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and says he will keep broadcasting for now. The longtime broadcaster said “life goes on as normal” while asking for space to continue presenting the music he loves.
“As Freddie Mercury once sang, you can’t turn back the clock, you can’t turn back the tide. Ain’t that a shame. There’s no denying it’s a serious condition with an uncertain future, but for now life goes on as normal and I continue to broadcast,” he said in a statement shared in 2025. He added that he wanted “to be given the space to keep on broadcasting the music I love to the listeners I love even more. These are the days of our lives.”
Radio 2 every Sunday
He presents the Paul Gambaccini Collection on Radio 2 every Sunday and also hosts shows on Greatest Hits Radio. That makes the disclosure unusually practical for listeners: his on-air routine is continuing, not stopping, and the work he says he wants protected is the one most closely tied to his identity as a broadcaster.
The diagnosis lands after years in public view. He was a regular on the since the 1970s, was inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame in 2005 and, in 2018, won a payout from the Crown Prosecution Service over an unfounded case regarding historical sexual abuse allegations. He also called the the “worst employer of all time” over its treatment of him during that scandal.
Alzheimer’s Society support
He has already been supported by the Alzheimer’s Society, and chief executive Michelle Dyson said: “Receiving a dementia diagnosis can be frightening, but it can also open the door to receiving treatment and support. We hope that by sharing his diagnosis, Paul will encourage others to spot the symptoms and reach out if they are worried about themselves or a loved one.”
Gambaccini said the condition has “an uncertain future,” but his immediate position is clear: he is still working, still on air, and asking to keep doing both. What stage of Alzheimer’s disease he has not stated, and that is the detail listeners will be watching next.
