LEGENDARY celebrity Lionel Blair is coming to Worthing later this month.

Still working after 75 years as one of Britain’s top show business entertainers, he is about to undertake one of the most emotional public engagements of his long career.

On Friday, September 22 at 2pm, he will unveil a blue plaque to his very close friend, Britain’s highest-paid singing star of the 1960s, Alma Cogan, at her childhood home in Lansdowne Road, Worthing.

The Mayor of Worthing Cllr Alex Harman will be there to welcome him.

Blair will be 90 on December 12.

Lionel was one of the last visitors to see Alma at London’s Middlesex Hospital where she died from ovarian cancer in 1966 at the age of only 34.

He said: “Bruce Forsyth and I went together to see her and I was so shocked by her extreme loss of weight, and by the ravages her illness had inflicted, that I rushed out into the street and burst into tears.

“Bruce helped me to pull myself together.

“Alma was one of the greatest performers this country has ever produced.

“For her to lose her life at such a young age was a tragedy that deeply affected everyone who knew her.

“I feel that unveiling this plaque is my last tribute to a very dear and unforgettable friend.”

Lionel and his wife Susan, who have three children, recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

Alma Cogan was one of the most successful and tragic figures in English pop music of the ‘50s and early ‘60s.

Her 18 chart hits were a record for a female singer at the end of the ‘50s in England, and despite being part of the pre-rock and roll era,

Cogan seemed capable of working with the new music when her life was cut short.

Her final album Alma was released early the following year but Cogan was never entirely forgotten.

Collections of her music have shown up throughout the CD era including a complete triple-CD anthology (A-Z of Alma).

In 1992 the BBC presented a television documentary about her life and career.

Lionel Blair has performed around the country for many years.