The opinions expressed by John Blunt are not necessarily those of this newspaper

I HAPPENED to be in the departure lounge at Manchester Airport last month when, just prior to the disclosure of his plunge into bankruptcy brought on by the horrendous legal bills run up in suing for libel over his being called boring by a newspaper, in walked Coronation Street's Ken Barlow, £165,000-a-year actor William Roache.

Only for him to be greeted by chants of "Boring, boring, boring!" by louts swigging booze at seven o'clock in the morning.

Yet, though he manfully ignored the yobs, I felt sorry for him, but wondered why someone as highly-paid as he is should expose himself to such oafish hoi-polloi and not pay extra for the privacy of the executive lounge. Now, I know.

But my sympathy disappeared this week, with the disclosure that, in his bid to clear his £300,000 debts, 66-year-old Bill is releasing a rap version of the mucky number "Je T' aime" song - if it can be called that - which Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin took to No 1. 30 years ago despite it banned by the BBC and it being little more than orchestrated orgasmic grunts. Yet, hell's bells, Bill's a pensioner. But here he is, making a plonker of himself with a silly record and, worse, out on a nightclub tour doing a so-called "bump 'n' grind" show with young dancing girls to promote the bally thing.

It is hardly surprising that he was was greeted by screams and guffaws of laughter from the audience at his first appearance.

He must literally be desperate to make such a fool of himself. It is one thing getting ridicule for injudicious resort-to-law over being called boring, but it is quite another inviting it like this.

No matter how strapped this £165,000- a-year bankrupt may be, he is paying an unnecessarily steep price in loss of pride, is he not - when it is one thing to be cruelly made fun of, but another to invite it?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.