Having first performed a half-century ago at Candie, Ronnie Corbett was yesterday at Beau Sejour for the second time this year. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0576222)

RONNIE CORBETT’S association with Guernsey began with two summer seasons at Candie Auditorium nearly 50 years ago. The star of stage and TV recalls impresario Syd James, The Channel Islands Hotel and the opening of the restaurant at La Fregate.

He returned to the island in February when he was celebrity guest speaker at the local branch of the Securities and Investment Institute’s annual dinner at Beau Sejour. And he was back at the leisure centre yesterday as guest of honour at the Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance and at the evening’s Hangar Ball.

The 77-year-old conceded he knew nothing of the plight of islanders who were left here during the war and asked if it had been a ‘benign occupation’. ‘I’m sure that everybody must have been pleased when the Germans left,’ he said.