James Whale has announced that he’s gotten engaged.
The broadcaster, 70, shared the happy news on Twitter on Saturday, telling fans that he’ll reveal ‘to whom later’.
It comes three years after James’ wife Melinda died in May 2018 and a year after the radio host revealed that he was battling spine, brain and kidney cancer.
Announcement: James Whale has revealed that he’s gotten engaged, three years after his wife Melinda died (pictured in 2019)
‘I have become engaged’: The broadcaster, 70, didn’t reveal who his mystery partner was but added that he’ll reveal their identity later
Sharing the news, James wrote: ‘Breaking news over this weekend of my birthday I have to announce that I have become engaged- to whom I will reveal later!’
One pleased fan replied to James’ saying: ‘Please let it be Ash [Gould, his talkRADIO co-host. I’ve listened to you two for years & it would be sooooo romantic! You’re just made for each other & I bet Melinda (looking down) would approve!’
This prompted the presenter to reply: ‘We have been together a long time.’
MailOnline has contacted James Whale’s representatives for further comment.
Husband and wife: It comes three years after James’ wife Melinda (pictured together) died in May 2018 and a year after the radio host revealed he was also battling cancer
James’ wife Melinda passed away in May 2018, with him telling MailOnline at the time of her diagnosis: ‘She is not expected to live very long, it may be weeks or months.
‘She is having treatment, and I can’t give up that last glimmer of hope. But the doctors say I have to face facts. She is dying. The though of losing her is so painful, it is difficult to even contemplate.’
Melinda went to her GP in September 2017, after feeling unwell and suffering with a cough.
She said: ‘I thought it was just a virus but the doctor found an infection in my lower, left lung and ear. I was prescribed antibiotics and sent home.’
Information? James replied to one follower saying ‘we been together a long time’, however it wasn’t clear if he was referring to his radio co-host Ash Gould or new partner
When they didn’t work, Melinda went back and was prescribed another course, which also didn’t work, before being sent for a chest X-ray.
She said: ‘I was getting more and more tired. At one point I really doubted myself. I thought, “This is in your head, Melinda.” I thought it was the winter blues.
‘But when I saw the radiographer’s face I immediately knew something was wrong. The next day, I was told I needed further tests.
‘By the time I was told it was cancer in December, I already knew. Don’t ask me how, but I did. I have stage four lung cancer with secondary cancer scattered here, there and everywhere.
Well wishes: Several of James’ followers sent their congratulations after he shared the news
‘It’s in my bones, my spine and my lymph glands. It’s gone ping, all over the place. It was such a huge shock. You’re talking three months from perfect health to now, when I sleep almost 24 hours a day. It certainly crept up on me.’
She died just months later, in May 2018.
James had hoped Melinda could overcome the prognosis, like he did 18 years ago when he was told he had a tumour in his kidney the size of a football.
He said: ‘They weren’t sure they could operate. I thought I was going to die.’
After beating the odds and having a kidney removed, he set up Kidney Cancer UK, a charity that helps support those with the disease and their loved ones.
James has also been very candid about his own health troubles in recent years, revealing in 2020 that he discovered he had spine, brain and kidney cancer.
Sad loss: James’s wife Melinda (pictured) died in May 2018 just months after being diagnosed
Health battle: James has also been very candid about his own health troubles, revealing in 2020 that he discovered he had spine, brain and kidney cancer
Speaking last August, James said he even considered throwing a farewell party with friends and then taking his own life after learning his diagnosis.
He said he considered euthanasia at ‘the place in Switzerland’ after he was given his diagnosis- just two years after he lost his wife Melinda to the devastating disease.
He previously said he initially considered assisted-suicide clinic Dignitas after the thought ‘might as well go and get it over with’ was the first to cross his mind.
But friends of the star said they should ‘have a party’ in Britain instead of going abroad.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, the Celebrity Big Brother contestant insisted that his attitude is ‘not a question of being brave’ and he ‘you just have to get on with it’.
He said: ‘I’m feeling really well since I started the treatment, I don’t want any of those sad voices I probably look and sound like I would normally.’
He added: ‘You don’t know what live has to throw at you. So, it’s not a question of being brave by the way.
‘It’s just a question of, in all our lives, we’re all going to get to a stage where our health isn’t going to be what it is when we are at our peak performance time. You just have to deal with it. There’s nothing else you can do.
Speaking on the morning news show following his diagnosis in 2020, he added: ‘You could go to the place in Switzerland. And I had thought because of all the people I’d seen suffer with the disease in my time, I can’t really be bothered.
‘And then friends of mine said, well we’ll have a party, lets do it here instead of going over to Switzerland.’ He went on to reveal that he was receiving both immunotherapy and hormone replacement therapy.
The pioneering broadcaster rose to prominence in the 1980s when he established himself as the host of The James Whale Radio Show in Leeds which was broadcast on Radio Aire and ITV.
He also hosts between on talkRADIO alongside long-time co-host Ash Gould.
Honest: Speaking last August, James said he even considered throwing a farewell party with friends and then taking his own life after learning his diagnosis