A Runcorn man has found fame staring on a four-part BBC show after playing the drums for over 55 years.

Arty Davies has lived in Runcorn for more than 40 years but was originally born in Garston, Liverpool.

He got polio at 18-months old and for the past 30 years has been a wheelchair user.

His road to performing in front of more than 50,000 people at one of the UK’s biggest music festivals had been played out on the BBC2 show Rock Til We Drop this month.

He called it the biggest gig of his life.

Arty explained that he was at a polio party in Liverpool when he was 16 and he went on stage and played the drums.

The 73-year-old said: “The guy said what do you want to play, I said I don’t know what's next on your list, and it was “Money” by the Beatles. We played it and at the end, he said that was good how long have you been playing, and I said how long does the song last this is my first time.”

He performed his first gig playing the drums at the Young Conservative Club, Garston and went on to form his first band The Pressure Points.

Arty has played with bands such as Farons Flamingos, Lee Curtis and the All Stars, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and also played for a week in the backing band of American Star Chan Romero, who wrote Hippy Hippy Shake.

After seeing the ad for ‘Rock Till we Drop’, Arty’s friend Carol Jason, who is the bass player of the band, got in touch and told him to apply for the show.

He said: “I got a call from RDF Television saying they liked my CV and videos and they wanted to do a zoom call. I had to get my grandson to set it up because I am useless with technology.

“Then I got a call saying they were bringing the filming crew to my house and I suddenly thought this is getting real.”

Within a week Arty was in a taxi on his way to Southampton to rehearse and then was put on the Ferry to travel to the Isle of Wight.

Arty added: “We had to go out on stage in front 50,000 plus people and perform, the funny thing is that I was not nervous, I just thought I am having this, and I even did a small drum solo.

“What an experience, the biggest gig of my life at 73.”

The four-part series challenges Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp and MOBO award winning grime artist Lady Leshurr to form two rival bands, both made up of over 64-year-olds, to play the main stage of the Isle of Wight Festival.

You can watch the show on: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/