My dear friend Bill Turnbull was many things – kind, generous, and unique. But there’s something he hated being known as

HOW do you describe in ­adequate words the loss of a wonderful friend and much-loved broadcaster, the legendary Bill Turnbull?

I have known Bill for over twenty years and spent many happy hours sitting on his left-hand side on the famous BBC Breakfast sofa.

Every day we did that, without fail, he made me laugh.

He had a wicked, naughty sense of humour which was infectious, and the audience and the programme team loved him for it.

As well as being great fun he was a talented, insightful and rigorous journalist with a sharp eye for detail.

His sense of how to use exactly the right tone when faced with the most challenging of news stories was impeccable. 

Sitting beside him on those early mornings, I always felt I was in safe hands, and I know the viewers did too.

He was a stickler for ­accuracy both in terms of grammar and spelling, always correcting mistakes.

He hated overuse of words like legendary (yup I did it on purpose and he was!), iconic and unique which were added to an unofficial banned list.

He lived by high standards and expected and encouraged those of us who worked with him to do the same.

Both inside and outside work he was kind and generous with his time, and his wise words were much appreciated by me and many others.

His brave, selfless decision to talk openly about his diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer has been lifesaving. 

I have been inundated with messages from men who have since been to the doctor because of him.

Only very few of us can change the course of people’s lives by what we say, and Bill is one of them.

The most important people in his life were his family, his wife Sesi and his three children of whom he was immensely proud.

His loss will be immeasurable for them but I hope the love and esteem he was held in can be of some comfort.

• Louise has donated her fee for this article to Prostate Cancer UK