Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he was treated for prostate cancer after it was detected during a routine health check ahead of an overseas tour this year.

The 85-year-old Christian singer said the cancer was discovered just before he was due to travel.

“I was about to embark on a tour… I was going to Australia and New Zealand,” he said in an interview with Good Morning Britain, adding that a medical check for insurance purposes led doctors to find cancer in his prostate.

He said it was caught early and had not spread.

“The good fortune was it was not very advanced… it hadn’t moved into bones or anything like that,” he shared.

Since his diagnosis and treatment, Sir Cliff has backed calls for a national screening test for men, saying, “We’ve got to be seen as human beings who may die of this thing.”