Veteran entertainer Bernie Clifton auditions on The Voice

Bernie Clifton performed The Impossible Dream on The Voice

Entertainer Bernie Clifton says he went on BBC One's The Voice to show there was "more to me than the ostrich".

The 79-year-old, who became known in the 1970s and 80s for riding a yellow ostrich, said: "It's been a magical kind of a trip."

However, none of the show's judges turned their chair for Clifton, who sang The Impossible Dream.

Turning the chair means the judges see who is singing, and they would like the singer to join their team.

If no-one turns around, the contestant is out of the show.

'Voice buried'

Clifton, a former star of children's show Crackerjack, said he had started singing as a teenager but "buried" his voice as he developed his variety act.

He said despite being 79 years old "pipe and slippers are not for me", and he was still working - although there was "not much work about for elderly ostrich jockeys".

He started working with a vocal coach three years ago, he said.

"The more the voice came out, the more I realised that I really ought to try and find a vehicle for it because I wanted people to know there's more to me than the ostrich," he said.

'Have a go'

"I went through the process like anybody off the street. I auditioned anonymously under my real name, Bernard Quinn.

"I just queued up with everybody else, but without my family or manager in case they tried to talk me out of it.

"As I got audition after audition, the producers asked me to sit down and tell them about myself and then the truth came out. It's been a magical kind of a trip."

Bernie Clifton running the London Marathon in 1982

He told the judges he had had a great time on the show, adding: "Anybody that's out there, whether you're 19, 89, or 99, if you've got something you think you ought to work on you should go out and have a go because if I can do it, anybody can."

Judge Ricky Wilson, lead singer of English band Kaiser Chiefs, said: "Bernie Clifton shaped my childhood, he was a big, big star. It was brilliant to see him, and he has a great voice."