McGowan's return to the Ledbury Poetry Festival brought out a very good audience on Saturday night and they were rewarded with a charming and accomplished performance.

The impressionist had to strike a difficult balance between providing a glimpse of his television talents with, in his own words, "something a bit different", his poetry.

He was a relaxed, warm personality on stage, seemed extremely pleased to be part of the Poetry Festival and achieved that balance perfectly.

His poetry suited the mood of the evening, it was very funny, wittily expressed and interspersed with more sober thoughts, well appreciated by the audience.

References to his home town of Evesham, his London life, the value of fame and an extremely amusing piece on his cats made an hour pass too quickly, even McGowan himself seemed to feel that and moved to squeeze in as much at the end as he could manage.

Impressions were spot on and were a good sprinkling from his television series - Dot Cotton from Eastenders, Michael Parkinson talking to David Beckham, football commentator John Motson trying his hand at Wimbledon and newsreader Moira Stewart.

Too short to do justice to McGowan's talents, it was nonetheless a delightful Saturday evening.

David Edwards