Mark Steel: Comedian has surgery for throat cancer

Comedian Mark Steel has thanked his family, friends and followers for their support after revealing he has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

He said it was "very treatable" and that doctors have estimated he can return to performing in six months.

He had his first surgery on Monday and said "all seems to be going to plan".

Steel, 63, wrote that "when this is over", everyone, including hospital staff, should celebrate by "getting utterly drunk" at his house.

The Have I Got News For You and Mock the Week regular, who also hosts long-running BBC Radio 4 series Mark Steel's In Town, wrote on his website that he first noticed his neck seemed to be "much bigger than normal" when shaving.

At first, he thought it was an infection that would go away by itself.

When it didn't, he sought medical advice, "talking in the blokey way that men often talk to a doctor, saying 'I'm sure it's nothing, I'm sorry for coming'."

He was sent for a biopsy but was later told his results had been lost in transit. He only discovered he had cancer when someone called to arrange another biopsy and told him it was "to see what stage of cancer you have".

A consultant later told him he had throat cancer that had spread to his lymph gland.

"So that's my current state of affairs," he concluded. "I have cancer, but it's a cancer that can be got rid of."

On Monday, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "I had the first surgery this morning for this slightly unwelcome cancer.

"All seems to be going to plan, due to the magnificent staff at St George's but I have these tubes poking out, so I look like a car in my home town of Swanley that the locals are syphoning petrol from".

The Absolute Radio host, 40, had earlier posted online to say he would have surgery, while also advising others with anything wrong with them to get checked out by a doctor in order to "catch it early".

"I've had awful sciatica lately," he tweeted. "It's caused by a spine tumour."

He added: "I need surgery so I'll be off for a bit. I'll record some shows to cover the gap.

"I'll be fine. In the words of [Nottingham Forest FC manager] Steve Cooper, I'll trust the process."

The presenter, who also co-hosts the British Scandal podcast and appears as an impressionist on the re-booted Spiting Image, later admitted online that he felt "a bit young" to be given the diagnosis but hoped his age would aid his recovery.