A GOUROCK man got the chance to chat with his 'hero' – comedy legend Jimmy Tarbuck – over a pint to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary.

Lucky Gerard McAulay and his wife Wilma met the Liverpool funnyman after treating themselves to tickets for the Royal Variety Performance in London and the aftershow party.

It was a dream come true for the couple after they feared they would have to miss out when Gerard lost his job.

But instead they spent the night mingling with the likes of boyband megastars One Direction, top girl group Little Mix and Liverpool comic Jimmy.

Gerard, 52, of Iona Walk, said: “My wife went off to get autographs from One Direction and Little Mix at the aftershow party.

“But I ended up talking to Jimmy Tarbuck, who is more my cup of tea.

“He is a hero of mine and he was just magic. He is so down to earth.

"We were drinking out of champagne flutes and he said to me ‘let’s ditch these and get a proper pint’.

“We chatted away for half an hour about the shipyards and this and that. He’s a great guy.”
The couple, who have three grown-up daughters, decided to go to the Royal Variety performance as a present to themselves.

But Gerard, who worked on the oil rigs, was paid off earlier this year and it looked like he wouldn’t get the chance to enjoy the night with his wife Wilma, 54. He said: “I got a job in Ferguson’s shipyard and it looked like I wouldn’t be able to go.

“We would have been disappointed but I told Ferguson’s about it and they were great. They told me just to go.

At the performance the couple enjoyed a world class line up and an emotional tribute to Cilla Black by Jimmy Tarbuck himself.

Gerard said: “It was amazing to see. It is very hard to get tickets – you have to pass three levels of security because royalty are in the audience.

“Prince Harry was there and he seemed great with all the young girls screaming for him. - I think he was more popular than One Direction actually!”