MY ATHERTON-born cousin, Haydn Rowlands, has the luck of the Irish. He was sitting on the patio of the new cottage he has extended, in the Derbyshire Peak District village of Slaley, when he spotted what he thought might be the UFO he had read about in his local paper.

Quick as a flash, he called wife, Sharon, to bring the camcorder and they videoed six and a half minutes of what has been hailed as some of the best UFO footage of all time.

After a long-running battle for access to the tape, they have been paid £20,000 for the footage of the giant craft.

For almost a year, the cottage was inundated with calls from TV companies throughout the world, national newspapers, magazines and UFO experts.

Now the tape has gone to Fox Studios and has been verified as genuine by NASA.

Scientists think it could be evidence of a three-mile wide UFO like the one in the hit film Independence Day.

Apparently, the amazing tape, which I was privileged to see, is to be used in a film to be shown on Channel 5.

Now anyone who remembers Haydn, 45, who lived in The Bungalow at the top of Green Lane, Leigh, for many years and was a pupil at Bedford CE School, will know that he is a character.

A world champion power lifter, he was this week again sitting out scanning the local hills and fields fronting the house with binoculars.

This time, he says he's hoping to catch one of the big cats said to be roaming the country on tape - and if he finds one of those, he's off to Loch Ness!

It just shows that quick thinking, a bit of astuteness and a lot of luck can bring good fortune.

I should be so lucky. If that had happened to me with my luck, the camcorder batteries would have been flat. He was sitting on the patio of the new cottage he has extended in the Derbyshire Peak District village of Slaley when he spotted what he thought might be the UFO he had read about in his local paper.

Quick as a flash he called wife, Sharon, to bring the camcorder and they videoed six and a half minutes of what has been hailed as some of the best UFO footage of all time.

After a long-running battle for access to the tape, they have been paid £20,000 for the footage of the giant craft.

For almost a year, the cottage was inundated with calls from TV companies throughout the world, national newspapers, magazines and UFO experts.

Now the tape has gone to Fox Studios and has been verified as genuine by NASA. Scientists think it could be evidence of a three-mile wide UFO like the one in the hit film Independence Day.

Apparently the amazing tape, which I was privileged to see, is to be used in a film to be shown on Channel 5.

Now anyone who remembers Haydn, 45, who lived in The Bungalow at the top of Green Lane, Leigh, for many years and was a pupil at Bedford CE School, will know that he is a character.

A world champion power lifter, he was this week again sitting out scanning the local hills and fields fronting the house with binoculars.

This time he says he's hoping to catch one of the big cats said to be roaming the country on tape - and if he finds one of those he's off to Loch Ness!

It just shows that quick thinking, a bit of astuteness and a lot of luck can bring good fortune.

I should be so lucky. If that had happened to me with my luck, the camcorder batteries would have been flat.