CONVINCING a room full of people to do elephant impressions may seem like a challenge but comedian Richard Digance managed it with great ease at the Bewdley Festival.

As he recited the poem Eric the Elephant during his comedy set, the Ramada Hotel audience was invited to help out by doing the actions and sound effects.

Although they were slightly reluctant at first, it didn't take long before everyone had got into the spirit and joined in.

It was one of many humorous and often silly poems and songs Digance treated the audience to throughout the evening.

He began by trying to gauge the age of the audience by playing television advert tunes on his guitar for products including Heinz baked beans and Ovaltine.

This was followed by a song, which covered 1,000 years of history in just four minutes, which was well received by the full house.

Other poems included Noah's Ark and The World's Worst Magician and his songs covered a vast range of subjects from the first girl he fancied to going to heaven.

The audience happily joined in with the sound effects whenever they got the chance from pretending to be waves at the beach to squawking like seagulls to accompany Digance playing Local Hero by Dire Straits.

In more serious moments the comedian, who became a popular member of the dictionary corner on Countdown and appeared in 204 episodes, shared some memories of its host Richard Whiteley.

He ended with a nostalgic poem listing 200 things he remembered from his own childhood, starting with fruit salad and blackjack sweets going through to catching chicken pox and playing with conkers.

Digance seemed to be able to connect with every member of the audience and it was clear from the applause he received at the end that they had all been thoroughly entertained. HL