Former Dr. Feelgood star Wilko Johnson put off seeing a doctor prior to his cancer diagnosis because he was convinced the lump in his abdomen was caused by his drinking.

The 65-year-old musician was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer last year (12), and has decided to spend his final months on tour instead of undergoing gruelling chemotherapy treatment.

Johnson has now revealed he initially didn't think his symptoms were serious because he had just taken up drinking again after a long period of abstinence.

He tells Uncut magazine, "I first noticed it last summer (12). I thought it might have something to do with the fact that after being teetotal all my life, in my dotage, I've taken up drinking... We had a night out and I started drinking absinthe, quite a bit of it. In the morning, I could feel the lump again (in my abdomen) and I'm like, 'What's this? I know, it's my liver.'"

Johnson eventually saw a doctor several months later after he began to notice blood in his urine and he was stunned to be told he had terminal cancer.

He adds, "We all (my family and I) all had a go at (guessing) the diagnosis. The consensus was that it was a cyst, and they'd just cut it out. So when we went in for the results, I wasn't expecting them to say it was cancer."