Red sofa tour to mark 60 years of Midlands Today

Midlands Today reporter Ben Sidwell at Warwick Castle, one of the region's most popular tourist attractions

BBC Midlands Today has taken its TV sofa on tour as part of the programme's 60th anniversary.

Reporter Ben Sidwell has taken the famous red settee on a seven-day 1,000-mile round trip across the West Midlands.

Meeting viewers, celebrities and popping up at events and well known locations, the sofa has been on quite the journey.

Midlands Today launched on Monday 28 September 1964, when presenter Barry Lankester welcomed viewers for the first time.

Tony Iommi returned to the Black Sabbath bench on Broad Street in Birmingham and found himself on the red sofa instead. He said Midlands Today and Birmingham as a city had "helped the band a lot" and he still regularly watches the programme

TV presenter Alison Hammond who is starring in Birmingham Hippodrome's panto for a second year in a row said she was a "little bit starstruck" to be sat on the red sofa. "It's been a staple in my life", she said

The comedian Jasper Carrott said Midlands Today had a great sense of humour running through it, "I mean Nick Owen, the worst jokes in the world and I used to write them for him," he said

The impressionist Alistair McGowan, who grew up in Evesham, joined Ben Sidwell on the red sofa at Ludlow Food Festival. He is also celebrating his 60th this year and remembers watching the programme as a kid. "I grew up with Tom Coyne", he said

It turns out BBC Midlands Today isn't the only one celebrating its 60th birthday this year.

After an appeal went out on the programme, hundreds of viewers got in touch to share details of how they are marking the milestone.

The red sofa visited some of those celebrating those special occasions.

Among them a couple who met at Coventry's Locarno Ballroom and who are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary. The sofa also hosted a choral society founded in Redditch in 1964.

John and Jenny Boote celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on 19 September. John is registered blind but still leads horses for the North Staffordshire Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA). He is also the main carer for Jenny who has mobility issues, and according to their daughter they remain "joined at the hip"

Redditch Choral Society performed "Hallelujah" on the sofa at Redditch Library, they are also marking their 60th birthday this year

The red sofa at a rugby training session in Warwickshire. Claverdon RFC is another organisation sharing its 60th anniversary with Midlands Today

Pauline and Bryan Walker celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on 26 September at Nailcote Hall Hotel in Coventry. They first met at the Locarno Ballroom in Coventry

The red sofa on a canal boat at Stafford Boat Club, a group which was formed in October 1964 by a small number of canal boat enthusiasts and has grown into a large club with 200 members

BBC Midlands Today is one of the longest running regional television news programmes in the UK.

The show has covered thousands of historic stories across the region, from the construction of Spaghetti Junction to the Birmingham pub bombings and the demolition of the Ironbridge cooling towers.

At the heart of the programme are the viewers and their stories.

Three pupils from Hadley Learning Community Primary in Telford enjoyed becoming 'little Mary, Nick and Shefali' for the day and even had a go at presenting the news and weather

The red sofa on the famous Iron Bridge in Shropshire

A bull and a red sofa, not ideal you might think but thankfully bulls are colour blind to red and this prize-winning bull at Kington Show in Herefordshire was happy to let his owner chat to our reporter

The red sofa on sale at Cheadle's outdoor market

Hector Pinkney AKA 'Mr Handsworth' has devoted himself to his local community and joined our reporter on the red sofa on Birmingham's Soho Road.