Bernie at his home points out the route of his world tour to his four-year-old niece Karen Rukin of Kyan Street, Burnley.

Pop star Bernie Calvert, bass guitarist of world famous group The Hollies, is back in his home town of Burnley for a few days to relax after a five-week world tour with the group, Bernie (28) arrived back on Sunday and came to Burnley to buy a car and have a rest with his family before leaving for Holland on Thursday to appear on television there. He left England with the group on January 20th travelling by jet over the North Pole to New Zealand. In Wellington they played to an audience of 2,000 and in Auckland to a full house of 10,000. From there they flew to Australia, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. This was his second visit to Australia in two years.

Said Bernie: "From there we went to the Far East, and this was the most interesting part of the tour. In Djakarta we got a great reception because we were the first world-famous pop group to have appeared there and it was a really big occasion for them. It was a sell-out in Singapore, where we played in this huge sports stadium, and in Kuala Lumpur people were so enthusiastic to see us that some wise guy printed two and a half thousand tickets and sold the lot. When they turned up expecting to see us the police had quite a bit of trouble keeping them all out." After doing a further two concerts in Hong Kong, the group came home to London via Delhi, Teheran and Zurich.

Bernie, who has lived in Burnley since he was 11 comes home as often as he can. He said: "I enjoy driving and up here there is a lot more pleasure in driving than in London. I also like to visit my father, who is on his own now, and keep him company. I still have a lot of very good friends in Burnley and it's nice to keep in touch with them." After appearing on Dutch television at the end of the week, he will be going to the recording studios, where the group will finish off their next album, which should be ready by the middle of April.