DISC jockey Adrian Love has died after a long illness, aged 54.

Adrian spent his last four years as a presenter for BBC Southern Counties Radio, which covers Surrey and Sussex.

The station has received hundreds of calls from listeners wanting to pay tribute to him.

Adrian was born into a show business family and his father was the bandleader Geoff Love.

But he started working life as a tailor before succumbing to the lure of radio, just as the explosion of interest in pop music began.

Adrian achieved national fame working for Radio 1.

Love Bus

His career also included work at Radio 2 and stints on independent radio.

On BBC Southern Counties Radio, he was best known for his Saturday breakfast programme.

He also went around Sussex and Surrey in the Love Bus for outside broadcasts.

Love Bus driver Shane Warnes, 41, of Longridge Avenue, Saltdean, said: "He was a lovely man, the same off air as on air."

Southern Counties' managing editor Mike Hapgood said: "Adrian had a skill to be an ordinary person on the radio, a touch of genius."

He added: "We expected some calls from listeners but we have been deluged."

Adrian, who lived at Edenbridge, Kent, was married with three children. He was badly injured in a car crash in 1997 and never really recovered, although he continued to broadcast between spells in hospital.

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