THERE is nothing like being told you are dying to make you feel alive.

That is how Wilko Johnson felt after being told by his doctor that he had terminal cancer and 10 months to live.

The diagnosis had a strange effect on the former Dr Feelgood guitarist. There was no panic, anger or despair.

Wilko just saw the beauty in the world with a sudden clarity. The feeling was so powerful and lasting that he began to even view his pancreatic cancer as a gift rather than a curse.

"It’s very strange because when you’re given that diagnosis everything changes in an instant," said the 69-year-old.

"The doctor sat and looked at me and said: ‘You’ve got cancer. It’s inoperable. You are going to die’.

"But, as it happens, when he said that to me I was completely calm as if he was saying something to me that I’d always known.

"I walked out of the hospital and it was a very beautiful winter’s day, a blue day. I looked up at the bare trees against the sky and they looked beautiful.

"Suddenly I got this rush thinking how beautiful everything is. I’m alive.

"It was great feeling. I walked home and the further I walked the more intense this feeling grew.

"By the time I got home I was feeling almost ecstatic. I started thinking maybe this is some kind of delayed shock. It wasn’t actually – this feeling carried on and on."

Wilko, whose real name is John Wilkinson, never intended to make his illness public but when he had to cancel some gigs journalists caught wind of it.

He added: "It became known on both sides of the Atlantic. It was reported in the New York Times. That was the beginning of quite an incredible year.

"It got more and more mad. I thought what am I going to do? I decided not to fight against it.

"People talk about a 'brave fight against cancer'. I didn’t want a brave fight against cancer – I wanted to accept it.

"We’re all going to die. I thought I’ve got 10 months and I want to enjoy them as much as I can."

So what do you do in that situation? Wilko combined his passion for music with his favourite country for a farewell tour in aid of Japan's tsunami disaster appeal.

He said: "The first thing I did was to go to Japan which is a place I love very much and I have many friends there.

"I wanted to see Japan one last time and say goodbye to all my friends. By the time I got to Japan it was all over Twitter so, of course, everybody knew.

"If you stand up on a stage and you have all these people who love your music and they know you’re going to die you can’t go wrong can you?

"I’m thinking this could be the last gig I do and I was looking out there seeing all these signs saying ‘we love you’ and faces full of tears.

"You can’t get that anywhere else. The whole year went on like that. It was a marvellous year. I thought I’m going to die but what a way to go."

In the same year, Wilko recorded an album with one of his idols, The Who’s Roger Daltrey.

He was convinced he would not live to see it released but Going Back Home became Wilko’s biggest success since Dr Feelgood’s 1976 live album Stupidity.

"It was one of the greatest things to happen to me," he added.

"Instead of fading away and doing 70s revival tours I was making a hit record.

"Roger’s such a good guy and we had fun doing that. We did it in eight days which is the fastest record I’ve ever made.

"Roger just thought it would be a nice thing to make something with me before I died and it went on to become one of my most successful records."

But then the strangest thing happened – Wilko Johnson did not die.

A doctor saw Johnson playing the Cornbury festival. He was amazed that the performer was looking so well and so referred him to an oncologist at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge.

It was announced that Johnson’s cancer was operable but with only a 15 per cent chance of surviving the operation.

After an 11-hour operation, a tumour the size of a baby was successfully removed, as well as part of his pancreas, spleen, stomach and intestines.

"I thought it was a pretty good situation I’d got in," said Wilko, who played an executioner in Game of Thrones.

"I’d go in and they’d cut me open and either they’d save my life or I’d never wake up.

"That sounded good to me because I wasn’t scared of death but what I was scared of was the suffering."

Wilko was told he was cancer-free in October 2014, the same year he received an Icon Award from Q magazine.

"I feel pretty good," he added.

"If you want to look at it philosophically, every day – even the most miserable rainy day – is a bonus for me."

But Wilko is a bit more reserved if there is any suggestion that fate was involved.

It is a bitter pill to swallow after Wilko's wife Irene died of cancer 12 years ago.

"I do not believe there is anything special about me," said Wilko.

"I’m lucky. My wife Irene should have lived. She died of cancer and she was a much better person than me.

"Everyone loved her and she was such a giving person. I loved her. I was with her for 40 years.

"If I could stand up there in heaven and choose I’d say keep Irene because she’s useful to the world.

"I certainly hope I’m grateful for what happened and if I can do something to justify my survival that would be lovely.

"I just want to get out there and play the best I can without getting hung up on anything. It’s real good fun and I think I’m doing better now than I’ve ever done."

- Wilko Johnson performs at Parr Hall on Thursday, October 6. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345