POPULAR BBC Radio 4 presenter Rory Morrison has died at the age of 48 from a rare form of cancer.

The dad-of-two, of Westfields, St Albans, was diagnosed with an incurable cancer of the immune system in 2004 and told by medics he had between five and seven years to live.

But determined to exceed the prediction Rory, who has fronted The Today Programme and The World at One, continued to battle the disease.

In 2008 he completed a six-mile walk with his fellow BBC Radio 4 presenters for the Lymphatic Society which was aired on a special edition of Radio 4’s Ramblings show.

His wife, BBC journalist Nikki Jenkins, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Until death parts us. Today I have lost my beloved Rory. No words express the anguish I feel so forgive my silence from now.”

Broadcaster Clare Balding also paid tribute posting: “It is such a loss - to his friends, to Radio 4 but most of all to his wife and two young children.”

Rory leaves his daughter Honor and son Reuben.