 Johnson spent most of the 1980s and 1990s as a keynote speaker , fundraiser and spending time on his hobbies ; travelling , fishing , shooting and walking his dogs . Johnson appeared on the long – running British television show This Is Your Life on 8 May 1985 , the 40th anniversary of VE Day . Among the programme 's guests was German fighter ace Walter Matoni . British wartime propaganda had alleged Johnson had challenged Matoni to a personal duel ; a version of events denied by Johnson . The two men arranged to meet after the war but were unable to do so until the TV programme . Among other guests was Hugh Dundas , " Nip " Nepple , who flew alongside Johnson on his first operation — in which he earned a rebuke from Bader — Crowley @-@ Milling , Johnson 's former Wing Commander Patrick Jameson and his uncle , Charlie Rossell who was over 100 years old at the time . 
