Currently battling with the disease himself for a fifth time, the 75-year-old former England and Newcastle United FC manager knows the benefits of early detection and quality care.

He is launching a new charitable foundation to ensure the 250,000 people in the UK who are diagnosed with cancer this year are as lucky as he has been.

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation will initially focus on the early detection and treatment of cancer and will also help support clinical trials of promising new treatments to tackle the disease.

Its first goal is to raise the money urgently required to set up the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre at the new Northern Centre for Cancer Care.

The money raised will fund dedicated research facilities, including a 12-bed unit with treatment rooms, a state-of-the-art laboratory and consulting facilities, all of which is being constructed at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.