Michael Ball’s dog has passed away

The tweet - which did not confirm what caused Ollie’s death - read: “Yesterday we said goodbye to my handsome, noble, soppy, daft, loyal, loving and most beloved best friend. RIP Ollie (sic)”

Ollie was a Tibetan terrier, and had been Michael’s closest companion for over a decade.

In an interview given last year, the ‘Love Changes Everything’ hitmaker dubbed the late pooch as his “best friend”.

He said: “My best friend is Ollie, my dog. I can tell him anything. He’s a Tibetan terrier and I’ve had him for 12 years.”

Michael had also revealed previously that taking his beloved pet for a walk would be part of his “perfect Sunday”.

He added: “My perfect Sunday would be spent doing my radio show, because I love it, then going home and cooking a big Sunday roast for the family, walking the dogs before settling down to the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ results and something like ‘Victoria’ or ‘Downton Abbey’.”

Ollie’s passing comes just over a year after Michael lost his other pet dog Freddie, who died in March last year.

He confirmed the news on Twitter when he wrote: “Today we said goodbye to our little man. Heartbroken. RIP Freddie, you gave us so much joy. (sic)”

Freddie’s legs were tragically crushed in a car accident in 2013, and the ‘Both Sides Now’ singer forked out a small fortune to create “artificial limbs” for the injured pup, which saved his life.

Michael said at the time: “We thought we were going to lose Freddie. We took him to the brilliant vet Noel Fitzpatrick, who makes artificial limbs for animals. Now Freddie’s running around like a pup again. I think he might be up for winning Bionic Dog of the year!”