No, I'm not interested.'Nor, it seems, are the majority of British students. He shook his head and I produced one from my bag, a purple and pale turquoise stripey woollen affair which I'd bought from the university shop 'Oh yuk, that's really nasty,' he murmured 'Really garish. Plenty of expensive-looking trainers, but not a scarf in sight 'Have you actually seen one yet?' I asked him. 'I've only been here four days.' I glanced round the thronged Student Union building. 'ARE YOU going to buy yourself a university scarf?' I asked Steve Grimmer, a first-year biology student at University College London 'I don't know,' he replied cautiously. I just happen to look exactly like Roy Orbison.(Photograph omitted)Irving Wardle, page 26. My face is like a mask and underneath it I'm just an ordinary guy.

Since then sometimes younger people make cheap jokes and call out, 'Aren't you supposed to be dead?' I don't think it's funny at all.When I take my specs off I can get away with looking like myself. I used to have a bad speech impediment and the singing has helped cure it When Roy died I was devastated It was as though a life-long friend had been taken from me. But I turned it down because I was too busy.I love what I do Singing is a great way of getting rid of frustrations. There's no rivalry between us, in fact I was asked to understudy him for the show. So I feel I'm actually quite close to the Orbison family.There are only two well-known Roy lookalikes worldwide: myself and Larry Branson, who's now appearing in the West End show. We've never had children, but I have met Roy's son, Roy Kelton Orbison, who came to stay with us once, and I've been in touch with Barbara Orbison, Roy's wife, who lives in Malibu. In fact, I met my wife Annette while I was on tour in Ireland She thinks I'm great.

I mainly do tours with the Great Legends of Rock, a lookalike outfit who do a two-hour show. My real break came when I appeared twice on Stars In Their Eyes in the last two years Since then I've been inundated with work. These days I do over a dozen shows a month at select venues, but I can be as busy as I want. They too thought I was Roy, but when they realised I wasn't, they fined me.I'm 49 and have made a living from performing as Roy for 30 years now. I was so thrilled I sped home later to tell my mother and got stopped by the police. He was amazed at the likeness and said he didn't mind me impersonating him, as long as I did it well.