YOUNG-AT-HEART 83-year-old Jack Ledwick has been hailed as East Lancashire's most talented grandad -- but today issued a challenge to other pensioners to show they can do better.

Modest Jack's many talents include magician, ventriloquist, pianist and painter.

Now he is being urged to take to the stage again and revive his popular act by the winner of last year's national senior citizens' talent contest.

After a career of wowing audiences with his magic shows, Jack turned his talent to creating magic on the canvas with his paintings, exhibiting and selling them throughout Lancashire.

Jack built his own appreciative audience in the guise of Ossy -- his three foot ventriloquist dummy whose schoolboy appearance positively belies his almost 50 years.

Jack's talents have caught the imagination of another celebrity Brian Frankland, who won last year's national Whitbread Senior Citizens' Talent Contest.

Brian, 67, of Coupe Green, Hoghton, has urged Jack to display his talents once more and said he could be the most talented in East Lancashire.

"It's a fantastic competition and I'm sure someone as talented as Jack would enjoy, and he would stand a real chance." said singer Brian.

"Because I won last year I can't take part for three years but I'd look forward to coming up against Jack."

Grandad of six Jack, of Clifton Grove, Wilpshire, who is also accomplished in the ivory tickling department, said: "I suppose I am a bit of a Jack of all trades and people could say I'm quite talented. But I am sure there could be someone out there more talented than me."

Jack began performing as a teenager when a pal asked him to put on a magic show at a church hall in Clayton-le-Moors where he went down a storm.

"The applause was gratifying but I only realised later that it was down to me being a youngster," said Jack. "They applaud youngsters for anything." Although already a keen amateur with many shows under his belt Jack said it wasn't until he joined the army that he really perfected his act -- when he was a prisoner of war.

While serving with the Desert Rats in North Africa, Jack was captured by the Italians and taken to his captors' country.

When Italy pulled out of the war, Jack found himself property of the Germans and spent time in a war camp in Austria. In total Jack spent more than three years in the camps. Instead of breaking him, the experience made him stronger and a far better magician.

"I got a lot of experience putting on army concerts and I got to appreciate how to work the audience better," said Jack.

"I perfected some of the tricks in the camps as well but I couldn't get us out of there. I wasn't Houdini."

On his return to East Lancashire Jack toured the pubs and clubs with his routine mixing comedy with magic. While in his early 30s Jack introduced a new element to his show -- Ossy. Made entirely by Jack from wood and paper mache Ossy, named after Oswaldtwistle, became the cheeky youngster to Jack's straight man act.

"Ossy gave me the chance to still present a respectable image but say all the cheeky things as well," said Jack of his ping-pong eyeballed 'son'.

"Even though it was me you could separate yourself from it."

A member of Blackburn's Modern Mystic League for 61 years and its current president, Jack is still interested in magic but concentrates his talents on painting and playing the piano these days.

Images from all over the world make the canvas -- including a scene from Jerusalem during the war which Jack had kept in a black and white photograph.

But despite the glamourous locations on offer, Jack still paints pictures of home.

"There is certainly a lot to paint round here," he said. "There is the countryside of the Ribble Valley and the factories of Blackburn which are all fascinating."

Jack's home is a testament to his painting prowess and looking around the room begs the question kids used to scream all those years before: "Where's Ossy?"

"He lives in a bag now in the loft!" said Jack.

Do you know a grandad more talented than Jack? Contact our newsdesk on 01254 678678.