FROM magician's stooge at just nine years old to head of Granada's light entertainment and king of The Comedians.

Top television producer Johnnie Hamp is to be honoured in a celebrity packed Variety Club lunch in Blackpool on October 19.

The Spanish Hall in the Winter Gardens is the venue with confirmed guests including microphone maniac Norman Collier, Duggie Brown, The Grumbleweeds, Shep's Banjo Boys and the promise of many more.

The man himself said of the honour: "It's smashing and a great thing and coincides with my 60 years in showbiz.

"I was nine when I started working with my magician dad during the Blitz. He was in the fire service and we travelled in a fire engine and sometimes half way through the show the engine had to take off!

"I'm really looking forward to the do and hope there's a good turn out, but it's a bit like going to your own funeral with everyone from my past turning up!

"I think my favourite person over the years has to be Frank Sinatra -- he was my idol. I booked him in 1953 and only 150 people turned up at a 3,600 seater venue.

"When I was on This Is Your Life he sent a message saying he held me entirely responsible for the whole bad business!

"The Variety Club is an incredibly important charity and I've supported them throughout my career like most people in the business.

"They are the one charity that charge no administration costs and it's for children and that makes it doubly important."

Michael Williams, executive general manager of the Winter Gardens, said: "I am sure with The Comedians in attendance we can expect a fun day full of hilarious anecdotes paying tribute to Johnnie's contribution to entertainment."

During a unique showbusiness career which spans five decades Johnnie Hamp has worked with just about every major British and American artist in the book.

He has had stints as a variety artist, movie publicist, TV presenter, theatre manager, talent booker, theatrical producer, record producer, lecturer and after dinner speaker -- although he is best known as one of Britain's top television producers devising more than 2,000 programmes for television.

He was responsible for the first major TV performances of countless artistes from The Beatles in the '60s to Lisa Stansfield 20 years later.

Paul Daniels, Eric Clapton and Cannon and Ball were also among those to get their TV break with Johnnie and TV specials with Woody Allen, Lennon and McCartney, Count Basie and Little Richard followed.

During the fifties he was presenting one night stands -- first with the new record super sellers Johnnie Ray, Guy Mitchell and Frankie Laine and later with the rockers Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and Gene Vincent.

The sixties found him in the North West -- right at the heart of the new music scene which was started by the Fab Four and was destined to become a worldwide sensation.

As a Londoner living and working in the North, Johnnie was quick to spot the great wealth of talent doing the rounds and devised series like The Comedians and The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club which introduced viewers nationwide to a hundred new faces who became the stars of today.

Johnnie recalls Mick Jaggar saying in 1964 that the Rolling Stones would only be around for another two years; turning down Stevie Wonder; bribing an eight-year-old Alvin Stardust; skinny dipping with Larry Hagman in Dallas -- and a thousand other stories.

This year's Variety Club oevent includes a champagne reception and a four course luncheon. Tickets are priced at £40 per head or £375 for a table of ten and can be booked by sending a cheque made payable to: Variety Club Events Ltd to Spotlight Public Relations, 6 Pall Mall, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 2LA or telephoning (01257) 262411.

Johnnie Hamp will also return to Blackpool in style on December 15 with The Comedians by popular demand at the Opera House in a superb Christmas show.

And The Citizen can also reveal The Comedians will appear on Sunday night specials in the resort for the summer season 2002.

Call Blackpool Live on (01253) 292029 for more details.