NOT many entertainers can boast more than 40 years of success in the notoriously fickle world of showbusiness or enjoy such a variety of experience, but Jimmy Tarbuck has proven to be one of the country's most evergreen stars.

He will be sharing anecdotes, taking questions from the audience and performing alongside singer Kenny Lynch at Aldershot's Princes Hall on May 23 in a show which promises comedy for grown-ups rather than adult comedy.

"I don't analyse comedy, it's just a case of what makes me laugh. I don't subscribe to the view that different comedy works with different audiences. The French are the target for laughs at the moment."

His introduction to the world of show business was not the result of formal training, more a case of being in the right place at the right time - Liverpool at the start of Beatlemania.

"The Beatles really put Liverpool on the map, and I was known as the fifth Beatle. It certainly didn't hurt to come from the area at the time. It started this crazy roundabout and I fell into it along with others from the area like Cilla Black."

Jimmy became the regular compere of Sunday Night at the London Palladium when he was just 24, although he admits he was treated by some of the more established acts as a young upstart.

It also provided the first opportunity to work with his idol Tommy Cooper, who tragically suffered a fatal heart attack on Jimmy's show 19 years later.

"It was the most devastating thing to happen in my career, just dreadful. I was a huge fan of Tommy and when it happened we went to a break and pulled the curtain but he was still lying there when Les Dennis and Dustin Gee were due to go on."

Jimmy remained an unstoppable force in light entertainment for much of the '80s, a permanent fixture on our screens with shows including Live from Piccadilly, Tarby and Friends and Tarby After Ten.

He believes that was the golden age of light entertainment and berates the demise of variety on today's screens.

"In my opinion The Two Ronnies were one of the best shows ever, but they'd never put that sort of thing on now. I loved Les Dawson, Eric Morecambe and Eric Sykes. You don't see any shows now which compare to those because TV nowadays is run by accountants."

The popularity of ITV's Audience With..... which re-introduced many of the country's evergreen entertainers to prime time suggests there is still a market for the traditional light entertainer.

"I did it in 1995. It was repeated so many times and got really high viewing figures. But you try telling a TV executive that this is what people want."

Of the newer breed of comedians, he cites the northern humour of Peter Kay and Jonny Vegas as his favourite contemporary stars and enjoys watching The Office.

More recently he has tried his hand at acting, appearing with daughter Liza in Linda Green in which he played her father and in Brazen Hussies with Julie Walters and Robert Lindsay.

"It wasn't easy acting in Linda Green, but I took a lot of advice from Liza and I was pleased with my effort. In Brazen Hussies, working with actors like Julie Walters and Robert Lindsay was incredible. The hardest thing is avoiding being Jimmy Tarbuck but overall I find acting quite simple after stand-up comedy. There isn't the same pressure than when it's just you telling a joke and hoping people will laugh."

He would love to appear in Victoria Wood's Dinner Ladies and Absolutely Fabulous, but his ultimate dream roles would have been in Dad's Army and Porridge ("Ronnie Barker was just superb.")

Jimmy is still passionate about his work. " I do enjoy what I do. I always try to show my experience in my act, but at the same time if I can't cut it anymore and people said go away then I would, I wouldn't want to keep going, knowing that I'd lost it.

"It's just amazing how time goes. I look back at early appearances and I think I was crap. I'm very critical of myself. I think I'm best when I'm ad-libbing but there are nights when I've been bloody awful."