Showbiz stars have backed an appeal for a statue to be erected in memory of comedian Max Miller.

Crooner Engelbert Humperdinck and entertainer Bruce Forsyth are among stars who have raised £8,000 towards the £30,000 target.

Paul Merton, Russ Abbott and June Whitfield also sent money to the Get It Up For Max fund in response to a personal appeal from Roy Hudd, president of the Brighton-based Max Miller Appreciation Society.

Organisers want to erect the statue on a site at the edge of the Pavilion Gardens in New Road, almost opposite the Theatre Royal.

Roy Hudd, all-round entertainer and Coronation Street star, said: "We always said we'd raise the cash ourselves.

"Miller fans - ordinary folk from all over the country, and there are loads of them - have raised most of the money. Now his admirers in the business are rallying round.

"Brighton and Hove City Council is supporting our plans and we're working to get the statue unveiled early next year."

Max lived all his life in the area, residing finally in Burlington Street, where he died in May 1963.

Other celebrities who have contributed to the fund include Simon Fanshawe, Brian Murphy, Victoria Wood, Betty Driver, Pam Ayres, Edward Woodward, Ian Lavender and Val Doonican.

Society chairman John Henty, former Radio Brighton presenter, said: "It shows what wide support there is for the project."