Hey Brian, get your fats straight!

DARREN Wharton wants a word with Professor Brian Cox.

- BY DAVID COUGHLAN

"Chip fat?" he says, laughing. "It wasn't chip fat. Where is he going... I'll have him for that."

The former Thin Lizzy man is in Dublin to talk about his January date at the 3Arena celebrating the life of Phil Lynott.

Wharton was just 18 when Lynott asked him to join Lizzy on keyboards, setting him off on the adventure of a lifetime.

When it was over, he started the rock band Dare and hired a young Brian Cox in similar circumstances.

"I always felt that Phil took me under his wing because I was young," says Wharton.

"And when I first met Brian it reminded me of my first opportunity with Phil.

"I remember Brian's dad David knocked on my door in Oldham and said, 'Are you Darren Wharton? I've got my son in the car, he plays a bit of keyboard.'

"I looked behind him and sat in the passenger seat was a very young Brian Cox.

"I'd been told by the record label that I had to be the frontman of Dare.

So I was looking for someone to take over on keyboards and Brian was the man."

Cox is now well-known for explaining the wonders of physics with his sprawling scientific shows on BBC.

But back in the mid-80s he deferred a place at university for life on the road with Wharton.

"We got on like a house on fire and we did have a lot of conversations about science," says Wharton. "It wasn't all like rock and roll.

"We'd sit on the tour bus at night, me and Brian and a few other guys, and wed discuss the universe.

PERMS

"I wasn't surprised Brian ended up being so successful at what he's doing now."