One of Australia’s best known and loved voices has revealed the devastating news that he has been battling cancer and his whole jaw must be removed.

John Blackman began his radio career in 1969 when he joined 2GN, Goulburn, and had stints at 2CA, 3AK, 3AW, 2UE, 3UZ, Triple M Adelaide and Magic 1278.

He is best known for his voiceover work during a 28-year period on Hey Hey It’s Saturday where his best remembered character was the head on a stick, Dickie Knee.

John was also the voice over announcer for over 1500 episodes of Family Feud.

The 71-year-old revealed on Nines A Current Affair that he is battling cancer, and it is slowly spreading around his mouth and into his jaw.

Surgeons performed the surgery late last week to remove his jaw and replace it with a new one shaped from a bone taken from his leg.

Currently John is in the ICU recovering.

This is his second bout with cancer.

In  2007, he suffered a seizure brought on by a golf ball size meningioma brain tumour. After six hours of surgery the benign tumour was successfully removed and he had a full recovery.

His official website, blackman.com.au is currently offline with a note saying it will be “offline for a few days.Look forward to a catch up sometime next week. JB“