Bilk back after cancer surgery

Acker was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2000

Chart-topping jazz musician Acker Bilk says he plans to go back on tour - just days after a major operation.

Somerset-born Acker who has been suffering from cancer, had an operation on his bladder last week.

Despite the setback, the leader of The Paramount Jazz Band is refusing to hang up his clarinet and will be playing two gigs in Germany next weekend.

The 74-year-old, who was made an MBE in 2001, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2000 but was said to be in remission after a course of treatment.

"You're in good hands at the Bristol Royal Infirmary they really looked after me," he said.

'Long tours'

"It's only a couple of days in Berlin and I feel fine, it's good food and a good public there so I am going.

"We've been going there for 50 years now. They love the jazz there and they know all about it.

"I've cut it down a lot, I don't do any more long tours to Australia. I've finished all that and the longest I do now is about three or four days on the trot. The hard part is always the long tours.

"I've got to go back to the hospital in three months to see how I am."

Born on 28 January, 1929, Bernard Stanley Bilk gained the nickname "Acker" - a local word meaning mate or pal - as a child.

He started playing the clarinet in 1948 when he was in the Royal Engineers and formed his first band in Bristol after his demobilisation.

He went on to lead the British trad-jazz revival, scoring his biggest hit in 1961 with Stranger On The Shore, which spent 55 weeks in the UK singles chart.

A former smoker, he quit after suffering a heart attack in 1976.