ONE unsuspecting radio listener got the surprise of his life when he heard a marriage proposal from his partner over the airwaves.

Lyn Bayliss asked her long-term fiancé Brian Burrows to marry her while she took part in Swindon 105.5’s Girls About Town programme earlier this week.

Brian had proposed to her 20 years earlier but the 62-year-olds still hadn’t tied the knot so Lyn decided to take matters into her own hands and pop the question herself.

She said: “He told me one day we will get married but it never happened and I thought well, I’m not getting any younger, so I thought now would be a good time, it was quite a spur-of-the-moment thing.

“I mentioned what I was planning to the production team before we went on-air and asked if I could do it, they were really excited and keen to be part of this.

“Brian and I moved to North Swindon 15 months ago to get nearer the countryside and away from the noise and anxiety of living in London, it felt like starting afresh with a new life and he’s the only person I want to share that life with.”

Brian called her shortly after the surprise proposal to accept and tell her he loved her - and put a small sign up in the front window saying YES which greeted her when she returned home.

Lyn added: “I had tears down my face and he was very emotional when he rang me. I’ve said to him before ‘Oh that would be a nice dress’ and things like that so it’s nice to be able to finally celebrate this, I’m so happy, I feel like a teenager again.”

Swindon 105.5’s director Shirley Ludford said: “I was driving back from the Mayor’s marathon when I heard Lyn ask Brian to marry her, it was so out of the blue, it’s really exciting.

“This is the first on-air proposal we’ve ever had on Swindon 105.5 and I’m thrilled that she got the reply she wanted.

“Lyn has been on the radio here once before and now she wants to try her hand at training and presenting a show, which is great.”

Lyn added: “I first met Brian 25 years ago through a mutual friend at a charity barbecue when I was married to someone else, then after I got divorced a year later we bumped into each other again.

“I was at a cash machine in London and a lady hit the man behind me with an umbrella and said he’d been trying to mug me, so I ran onto the nearest bus to get away from him and Brian was the bus’ conductor, he was a real lifesaver.

“He asked me what was wrong, drove the rest of the route, dropped me home afterwards to make sure I was safe and asked me to go with him to a Valentine’s dance. That’s how it all started.

“We haven’t set a date for the wedding yet, it will be a quiet affair with a big party at the reception.”