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Katie Grant
Oct 23, 2015
It's good to talk�...
Sometimes it can help to get things off your chest, as pensioner Bill Palmer learnt this week. Mr Palmer, 95, has become an unexpected internet hit after calling up a radio phone-in show and revealing how "alone" he has felt since his wife had to move into a care home.
What prompted him to call?
Mr Palmer, from Southampton, called the Alex Dyke show on BBC Radio Solent to participate in a phone-in about love in later life. He described how his wife, Sheila - who has dementia and colitis - had fallen and was taken to hospital before the 85-year-old was moved to a nursing home where she now lives. "Every day is hell. I feel so alone," the pensioner said. The couple married last year after 30 years of friendship.
What a sad situation.
Listeners agreed - and so did the radio host. Mr Dyke arranged for a taxi to bring Mr Palmer to the studio where he sat in on the show. A recording of Mr Palmer's call had been accessed 41,000 times on the station's Facebook page by yesterday afternoon and the pensioner has been inundated with offers ranging from Sunday lunch to a private concert by a ukulele orchestra.
I hope that put a smile on his face.
A shocked Mr Palmer said:
I can't believe it. I just sit and listen to the radio and watch TV and have lots of friends, but unfortunately when you get old people don't visit - that's life.
Mr Dyke said his guest had "touched the hearts of thousands of listeners" and it was his "nicest moment in 30 years of broadcasting".
A turnaround for the DJ too�.
Indeed. Earlier this year the radio host was suspended and then reinstated after he said on air that women should not breastfeed in public as it was a "throwback to the stone age".
Watch the full video, below:
More:An elderly man has written a 'missed connections' ad after 42 years that will warm your heart
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