Pretending to be Humphrey Bogart, he became a journalist and a familiar sight around Barnsley and district, riding his bike while wearing a military style raincoat, snap-brimmed trilby with elastic chinstrap and green cycle clips. Thus disguised, he bluffed his way on to the Manchester Guardian and later the Daily Express in Fleet Street before being found out and sent back to Manchester, where he worked for Grenada Television. He eventually ended up at the BBC with a talk show that ran for many years and made him an instantly recognisable face, mainly among people who thought he was Michael Aspel.
With the help of his wife Mary, he has overcome many problems, including drink, Meg Ryan and an irrational fear of emus, to lead a seemingly charmed life - he has sung with Bing Crosby, danced with Billy Connelly, Bruce Forsyth and Will Smith, played a love scene with Bette Davis and had his knee touched by Renee Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kylie Minogue and Dame Edna Everidge, to mention a few sex symbols who have felt irresistibly drawn to his left patella.
