Tony Blackburn cheerfully admits: “To be honest, I can’t remember where I’ve been from one day to another!

“I clearly remember everything there is to know about the 60s but I can’t remember what I was doing last week!”

This has nothing to do with his being a truly veteran broadcaster of well over 50 years’ standing, and everything to do with a schedule as hectic as it ever was.

Over the decades he has visited just about everywhere in the country for thousands of public appearances, radio station roadshows, theatre dates and other events.

His current one, Sounds of the 60s Live with Tony Blackburn, reaches the Wyvern Theatre on Saturday, January 11.

The Swindon date is one of a series added to an already successful tour.

“We’ve been doing the Sounds of the 60s since March – I just turn up and we do the show.

“The notices are great and we’re packing the places out.

“It was supposed to finish at Christmas but it was so successful that they said, ‘Would you like to do another year?’ We do one every week.”

The name of the show is a clue to what the audience can expect.

“It’s nothing to do with records – I don’t play records. We have an eight-piece band led by Leo Green; his dad was [jazz musician and broadcaster] Benny Green, with great singers.

“In the course of the evening the audience will hear about 100 hits. It’s great fun.

“After the shows l go into the foyer. I like doing that – going out there, talking to people, having selfies.”

Many audience members are fellow veterans of the era, but younger people also come along.

Tony, who still presents shows on four radio stations, sings one or two classics himself and shares stories about his own experiences at the heart of the era’s music scene.

His earliest work behind the mic included stints on pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London, which were famously headquartered aboard ships in international waters, beyond the reach of British officialdom.

When the BBC launched Radio 1 in 1967, 24-year-old Tony, pictured on this page, was the first presenter heard by listeners to the corporation’s new youth-oriented station

With his first choice of record, The Move’s Flowers in the Rain, he established a permanent place in music history and pub trivia competitions for Midlands band The Move.

The influence of the early Radio 1 presenters was huge; when Tony heard Diana Ross album track I’m Still Waiting he was so impressed that he featured it heavily on his show.

The record company was persuaded to release it as a UK single which reached number one.

Tony himself made many records, scoring some UK top 40 hits later in the decade. I’ll Do Anything, a single he recorded under the name Lenny Gamble, went on to become a favourite on the Northern Soul Circuit.

He said: “It was a great era. From my point of view, everything I’ve done was because of the pirate ships.

“I find it very easy to go on stage and talk about the events of the era because I lived them.

“I’m very proud of the fact that with the pirate ships we altered the way broadcasters had worked up to then, because they had a complete monopoly and it needed to be broken.

“I’m very proud to have been the first voice on Radio 1.”

Tickets for Sounds of the 60s Live cost £34.50 and £44.50, and the box office can be contacted on 01793 524481 and via swindontheatres.co.uk

Many audience members are fellow veterans of the era, but younger people also come along.