HAVING soaked himself in the myths and legends of America during a year there, storyteller Graham Whitford is returning to Malvern for an evening of Myths - Truth or Legend.

Graham honed his storytelling skills while working as a youth worker and teacher at Malvern's Moira Jayne youth cafe.

He then became renowned for those abilities while working in a restaurant in Ross-on-Wye, where his habit of bursting out of the kitchen and regaling diners with a story earned him the title of The Storytelling Chef.

He then set aside special storytelling nights in the restaurant before turning professional three years ago.

Graham said: "I'll be telling stories, myths and legends from all over the world. I'm very keen on Native American folklore and mythology - I managed to do some storytelling in America last year and picked up new stories.

"I also tell some very old stories from the Hittites, an Asia Minor Civilisation about 3,000 years ago, and I tell modern stories, both with humour and seriousness.

"The oral tradition is the way that news and entertainment and learning and morals were taught to people and communicated. Although we have got the internet, radio and TV now, people still like stories. You can do things with stories that you can't do with other media and you can get very close to people. The audience is very closely associated with what's going on.

"It's not a recital. The stories always come about a little bit different each time. I might use different phrasing and different words depending on how I feel at the time and in response to the audience.

Graham will be joining Malvern Storytelling Club on Wednesday at 8pm in the Nags Head on Bank Street (tickets £2). On sale at the gig will be copies of Graham's first CD, Storyvoice.