GOING 'On the Road to Vietnam' with legendary comedian Bob Hope was not even the highlight of born entertainer Keith Yates' career.

His enviable - and supremely colourful - CV includes singing to American troops in South Asia, compering for the Rolling Stones and crooning in big bands.

But his role supporting Bob and trying to keep the troops' spirits up in Vietnam is something of a blur to Keith, 71.

He said: "I did my comedy acts everywhere, but six weeks in Vietnam was definitely the most hairy.

"Choppers would fly us in - the Viet Cong would take pot shots at them - and then we were transferred to huge trucks and would be bounced around to the US emplacements.

"You could hear gunfire all around. It was a hell of an experience, but we never got told where we were for security reasons."

Keith said the crowds, usually between 100 to 300 men, didn't give him much reaction.

He recalled: "But when the girls came on dressed in as little as can be armed troops had to keep the GIs back.

"And I've a lot of respect for Bob, he is a great one, and he never got scared."

Keith's days of dodging the gunfire and entertaining America GIs finished in 1969 when asthma forced him to retire.

He has since settled down to life in Becks Lane, Macclesfield.

Father-of-two Keith, who also has two grandchildren, said: "I went all round the country with people like the Stones and Cliff Richard.

"I didn't have to do that much, being the compere. You just went on stage and waved them on.

"The crowds screamed so much that it drowned everything out, and I hardly said a word for the six months I was doing it.

As a 17-year-old Keith kicked-off his career performing with big bands, then played skiffle, before forming a group called The Farm Boys in the 1950s.

But the most cherished part of Keith's colourful career was as a stand-up comedian in Morecambe, where he spent seven years at the King's Arms Hotel.

He said: "I was the longest running show in town and it was the time of my life.

"I relished having a set night and loved the audiences and the whole occasion. It really got your blood pumping."

But even though Keith has had a fantastic innings in the entertainment industry, he still wants to bring a smile to people's faces.

His love of Tom Jones and Shirley Basey remains as strong as it ever was, so the obvious route for him was to make his own CD, called 'I Miss You'.

He said: "I had to sing a line at a time because I'm asthmatic, which meant it took a while.

"But music is a part of life. Good words with good music is fantastic, and is part of one's emotions.

"It's from the heart. My single is for people like me who often have to be away from home for a long time.

"It might be cliched, but the language of deep relationships is 'I love you' and 'I miss you'."

It is something Keith has plenty of experience of.

He said sadly: "Being away from home so much caught up with my marriage, and unfortunately we divorced." The CD was produced in a bedroom in town, and multi-talented Keith played all the instruments on it.

It is available from A&A Records in the Grosvenor Centre in town.