He was being prepared for lifesaving surgery on his pancreatic cancer when he was told of the award-winning record's sales success. Johnson tells the BBC: "When it was being released I was already in hospital. The surgeons at Addenbrookes Hospital had determined they could operate so I'd said, 'Okay, have a go.' I was lying in a bed full of tubes and morphine as it was being released.

"I remember people coming in and telling me, 'It's really selling - it's been really successful,' and me going, 'Really good man,' while not really quite aware of what was going on."