As an Army man, it is not surprising to hear Major Ronald Ferguson say: "We must carry on the crusade". Although the battle he is fighting is not a war - it is a matter of life and death.

The Duchess of York's father is leading the battle against prostate cancer, a silent killer of which most men are unaware.

Those who do know about it usually don't want to mention it - and most certainly wouldn't badger their GP for a routine screening test.

This is what Major Ferguson - a prostate cancer patient himself - is trying to change, using battle tactics which have already proved extraordinarily successful.

Yesterday the former member of the Guards journeyed to Oxford to talk to men worried about the disease.

The visit was just one of many stops around the country and his mid-morning phone-in on BBC Radio Oxford was so popular that producers were forced to extend Alison Booker's programme by half-an-hour.

Major Ferguson, 69, says: "We are advising that people around the country should have a PSA test, in the same way that ladies had breast scans before the screening scheme came in.

"I have made it absolutely clear that I have a determination to go to as many places where we can air the views and raise awareness."

Prostate cancer is usually left undetected by men until it causes symptoms affecting their bladder movements - often too late.

A PSA test is the most common way to detect whether anything is wrong, but until recently middle-aged men were often deterred from the test by their GPs.

Major Ferguson's cancer was detected during a routine medical check-up in 1996.

He is now in remission from the disease after enduring three months of radiotherapy, for five days a week.

He says: "At the time I considered it to be a totally private matter.

"It wasn't until a national paper got hold of the fact and I wanted to make sure that their story was accurate that I took a more active role.

"It was from that moment on that I went completely in the other direction. With my experiences I want to talk about it as much as possible to help other people. The more I talk about it, the more reasonable authority I seem to acquire." In true Army style, Major Ferguson's assault on prostate cancer is not a softly softly approach.

As patron of the Prostate Cancer Support Association (PCSA), he is literally demanding that men talk about the disease.

The horrifying truth is that 19,000 men in England and Wales are affected yearly - and 8,500 of them die.

He says: "I said I wanted to lead from the front. I didn't want to be a name on a letterhead or piece of paper.

"We have got to get men to forget about the problems of it all being 'down there', so to speak. National breast screening and cervical cancer screening is around because women are happy to talk about these conditions.

"When women get together as one voice, they are a stronger force than men will ever be. But we have to talk about it. We're not talking about mumps or chicken pox - this is a killer."

He admits that even he never talked about it - and didn't know what prostate cancer was - until he became another victim.

"We treat prostate cancer as if it's a new disease, but I'm sure Adam had the disease and we just haven't been talking about it enough.

"Men are just too cowardly. We have just got to carry on with the crusade. No-one will gag me until I run out of energy - which is unlikely."

Anyone worried about prostate cancer should contact their GP or can log on to the PCSA website for information, at www.psate.st.