BBC journalist George Alagiah diagnosed with bowel cancer

Alagiah first began hosting the 6pm news bulletin in early 2003, but he stepped up to front it solo four years later following the departure of his co-host Natasha Kaplinsky.

He has previously been a prominent foreign correspondent, often as a specialist in Africa with coverage of civil wars in Somalia and Liberia, as well as the genocide in Rwanda 20 years ago.

Alagiah joined the BBC 25 years ago after working as a print journalist and he has gone on to write a number of books including A Home From Home, which looked at what it means to be British. He has also presented other shows such as Mixed Britannia, looking at the UK's mixed-race population.

Bowel cancer is the third most common type of cancer in men, behind prostate and lung, with almost three-quarters of cases affecting people over the age of 65.

If caught in its earliest stages, the chances of surviving for a further five years are 90 per cent and it is possible that patients can be given the all-clear.