BORN in Agnes Street, off East Street, Dennis went to St Anne’s School and King’s School.

On leaving, he became an apprentice in Aveling-Barford drawing office, Houghton Road, later moving to Barford’s of Belton.

He became interested in folk music and joined Grantham Folk Club, then meeting at the Springfield Arms.

He learned to play guitar and was a founder member of the Trellions with Dave Knight, Robin Dickinson and Steve Harrison.

But his life changing moment came when, with two friends, they paid £20 for a beat-up Commer van and set off for Istanbul.

While returning through Italy, they saw three girls with a broken down Bedford. They became friends, and on discovering two of them were New Zealanders, Dennis got the urge to see their country.

In 1969, the two said they planned to hitch-hike home and so Dennis decided to join them.

With £200 in his pocket, Dennis and the girls crossed Europe, Bulgaria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Malaya and Indonesia.

They flew the final leg from Bali-Timor-Darwen on the Australian mainland. He still had £50 but had sold his drawing equipment in India (although kept his slide-rule).

They eventually landed in New Zealand and after touring the islands, settled in Christchurch – the city where he still lives.

To pass the time and to earn a few bob, he took to busking.

The New Zealand dictionary didn’t even contain the word and he became a tourist attraction. This was compounded when one of his travel companions’ boyfriend, a reporter on the local paper, wrote a feature on him.

This was compounded when the Commonwealth Games were staged in his adoptive city and he became a celebrity in the city square.

Around that time, New Zealand pubs which previously had to close at 6pm were given a four-hour extension and started to look for entertainers. Dennis was top of their list.

He married his New Zealand-born wife Lynette at Ropsley in 1985 on one of his bi-annual visits to the old country. He also pulled in for the opening the newly-named Odd House, in Fletcher Street.

Dennis still returns home every other year and still packs the local pubs plus one or two in London, with his one-man show.

Listen to Denis here…