Monday 4 August until Friday 3 October. Walker's recovery continued, but there was to be no return after Edmonds. Stuart Maconie continued as stand-in, and at the beginning of Monday 6 October's Drivetime show, he played Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" for Walker, remarked that he was "doing well", and that he was due to return at the end of the year. On 12 February 2004, Radio 2 announced Walker would return on 1 March. This was followed by his own message, "Well, it's taken a lot longer than I originally thought, but I reckon I'm fit enough now to come back to the Drive Time show on Monday 1 March. I'd like to thank Jim Moir and Lesley Douglas for keeping the door open for me all this time, and also to Stuart Maconie for doing such a great job on the show while I've been away. And a huge thank you to Radio 2 listeners for all their wonderful support since I left the show in June 2003. I've been very lucky to have had so many good wishes and kindness sent in my direction, it helped enormously with my recovery – thank you so much. It will be great for us to be re-united again from 1 March." Walker returned on 1 March, with his first record being Eric Clapton's "Hello Old Friend". Walker and Clapton were born on the same day and Walker later presented a Radio 2 show to celebrate the fact that they were both turning sixty. He was made an MBE in the New Year Honours 2006. New projects In February 2006 it was announced that Walker would step down as host of Radio 2 Drivetime to take over from Ed Stewart on Sunday afternoons and conduct interviews with musicians. His last Drivetime show was on 31 March, with Neil Diamond as a guest. The final song played by Walker on the show was "Human Touch" by Bruce Springsteen. From 23 April, Walker took over a show on Sundays from 5 to 7 pm. As well as his Sunday show, Walker also deputised for Brian Matthew on Sounds of the 60s when Matthew had to temporarily step down due to ill health. Walker presented the show from 2 September to 25 November 2006, when he too had to step down for medical reasons. He returned to the programme on 6 January 2007 and