Mum's advice was just the job

WHAT do you want to be when you grow up?

- Ken Rogers

Dreaming of being a fireman in 1953 with my very own bright red engine

I suspect you were asked this question many times in your youth, without a full grasp of where life might take you.

I remember getting a bright red fire engine pedal car for Christmas in 1953, complete with yellow ladders and a loud bell. I was immediately telling anyone who would listen that I wanted to be a fireman.

Twelve months on, aged six, my career dreams were transformed. I had been bought an impressive cowboy suit, complete with twin holsters for my cap-firing Colt 45 pistols. With a name like mine, I clearly wanted to be the next Roy Rogers. My mother had my photo taken at the famous Jerome's studio in London Road, shortly before my hero appeared at Liverpool's Empire Theatre in 1954.

The next day I was in a crowd of thousands outside the Adelphi, where Roy and his wife Dale Evans stayed. Of course, Roy's golden horse Trigger had equal star billing. I innocently asked my mother if the 'King of the Cowboys' might let me stay on his ranch during the school summer holidays. Never one to ignore a dream, she said she would drop him a line!