My night with Gary Barlow

Harry Hill summed it up well: “Welcome to the world’s most public mid-life crisis”.

But the truth is when a friend with a band asks if you’d like to sing a couple of Beatles songs in a cavern-like little club in front of a small audience, every boyhood dream takes precedence over common sense.

The word “no” doesn’t even cross your mind. And it’s all in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital so you can tell yourself you are really doing it for the children. The band is made up mostly of TV execs – one of them runs ITV and can therefore pull in some reasonable names. But when I said yes I was not expecting to compete with stars.

Vernon Kaye I can handle (although he is actually very good), even Harry Hill I can cope with (also brilliant)…but when they sent me the set list and I saw not just Jason Donovan but Gary Barlow I felt a little sick. Fortunately I was due to be first on – I could play the good natured newsman game for a laugh. But then disaster – Jason said he had to get up early for Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals so asked to go first with “Drive my Car”…..

“Follow that, you idiot,” I thought, as the voice rang out “Ladies and Gentlemen, Krishnan Guru-Murthy…” and I stumbled onto stage wondering what I was doing there. Still the audience were kind, and cheered along to my bumpy renditions of Lady Madonna and Taxman. I do have iPhone video of it. No I’m not going to post it on here or YouTube (*UPDATE : Ok I relent – a bit – small clip posted at the bottom).

Vernon does a very funny Mick Jagger impression and belted out Jumping Jack Flash, followed by his unique version of Twist and Shout. Harry Hill went a little obscure with Hey Bulldog and One after 909. And finally it was Gary Barlow’s time to rush the stage.

Being the star of the night he came on properly from back stage, rather than stumbling up from the front like the rest of us. I once spent a week following Take That on tour when I presented Newsround, so I’ve seen him on and off stage a fair amount and the kind of adulation he gets. But even in this room of haggered old hard-bitten TV types every camera phone was held high as he belted out Back in the USSR. That’s normally my song (I did it last year at Newsrooms Got Talent, and this same charity gig in 2010) – but never again.

By the time we got to the finale of Hey Jude I was quite happy to stand and watch in awe, but Harry Hill was adamant we should get up there too as planned. So we did. And I can now genuinely say that I have sung on stage before a paying audience with Gary Barlow. Hilarious.

**UPDATE : OK…just a taster of my humiliation

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