I think, ‘I’ll just ring Keith’.. then I remember he’s no longer with us
DJ Janice Long tells for first time about grief for brother Cheggers
JANICE Long says she still has the urge to call brother Keith Chegwin seven months after his sudden death.
The former Radio 2 DJ was devastated when Keith died aged 60 in December, and says the public outpouring of affection for the star has helped their family cope.
Janice, 63, says: “He didn’t have a bad bone in his body. We were very much alike. We’ve always been close.
“I do have moments where I go, ‘Oh, I’ll just ring Keith, I’ll just send him this picture’ and he’s not there.
“I still have his name in my phone. I can’t take him out of my phone.”
Keith, who made his name in 1980s TV favourites Cheggers Plays Pop and Saturday Superstore, died at home two weeks before Christmas surrounded by his family, including Janice and his twin brother Jeffrey, now 61.
He had the progressive lung condition idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and his condition had rapidly worsened.
The seven months since have been difficult for Janice, but she and their dad Colin take comfort in knowing how much Keith’s fans adored him.
Janice says: “He died far too young, but he packed a hell of a lot into his 60 years. It was remarkable, the support we had. The tributes were unbelievable. For my dad it was comforting to hear what all these people were saying about him.”
The BBC Radio Wales presenter thought of Keith again when she was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in music and art from Edge Hill University near Liverpool.
“That really got me,” she says. “He would’ve been so happy and so proud.”
Janice, a pioneer for women in music radio, was at photographer Anita Corbin’s First Women UK exhibition at the Royal College of Art.
Looking at how much has changed since she became the first woman to present a daily show on Radio 1, she said: “Women have a voice now. They feel empowered. There’s still a way to go, of course. But bit by bit it’s happening.”
It was so comforting for us to hear all the tributes JANICE LONG ON PUBLIC OUTPOURING FOR KEITH