Peel was one of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs

"I've felt terrible, off and on, for years, but had assumed it was part of the ageing process," he wrote in the latest edition of the Radio Times magazine.

"Worst of all was the fatigue. I had reached the point at which I needed three lie-downs a day.

"I also felt, as Led Zeppelin would have put it, dazed and confused."

He was diagnosed at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, and is now treating himself with insulin.

"At last, all the symptoms I had been generating and self-diagnosing as terminal had been gathered together, given a name and a treatment.

Anniversary

"The treatment, insulin, I inject into my abdomen, an area in which nature has been particularly generous to me."

"I'd rather not be doing it at all, of course, but I have to say I feel better already. Much better."

Peel was the first DJ in the UK to give exposure to punk, reggae, hip-hop and rap, and recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as a DJ with a party where Pulp, Nick Cave and Billy Bragg performed.