ST ANNES star of stage and screen Stephen Tompkinson says he's dreading embarrassing pictures of him cropping up in a new fanzine - because his brother is writing it.

The 34-year-old star, who moved to St Annes when he was only five, made his confession during an interview on The Big Breakfast on Monday (November 8).

But big brother John told the Citizen that Stephen, currently appearing alongside Robson Green in Grafters, has nothing to worry about - well not too much anyway.

"No, there's nothing too cringe-worthy in the fanzine," said 37-year-old John, of Heaton Road, St Annes.

"Just the usual child pictures that would make anyone wince a bit.

"It's a complete history of Stephen from his birth in Stockton, through to his moves to Scarborough and St Annes, right through to him being 18.

"Stephen decided he wanted it to be an on-going project and so the next issue will chart the next stages in his life.

"The idea really all stemmed from when I was made redundant and started handling Stephen's fan-mail. I didn't know what I had taken on and sometimes get up to three sacks of mail a week.

"I had always found that I was good at writing and when we came up with the notion of a fanzine, Stephen said he'd like no-one else to do it but me.

"It's a lot of fun, even including the very first role Stephen played - we dressed as Cinderella's ugly sisters in our uncle's house in Stockton as youngsters."

"But there's also other articles such as Stephen's top ten films and favourite music as a child."

The first edition of the fanzine, called An Actors Life For Me, will be out in January 2000. To reserve your copy, priced at £6.50 and signed by Stephen, write to John Tompkinson, 18 Heaton Road, St Annes, Lancashire.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.