DERICK Stanton is a proper gobbin - a name he's entitled to, having been born and raised "above the lamp" in his home town, Oswaldtwistle.

But though Ossy gobbins are reckoned to be on the gormless side, there's nowt daft about him when it comes to knowledge of "th' owd twang" - Lancashire dialect.

For in addition to singing until recently with a Lancashire folk group for 28 years, writing books about Lancashire - including his In Mi Gobbinland Home - and being the original host of the "Lancashire Drift" slot on BBC local radio, 63-year-old Derick is "gradely" at the Lanky lingo.

Now he 's teamed up with a real expert on dialect - Fleetwood-born forensic linguist and former Salford University tutor Peter Wright - to bring out an enlightening and entertaining new tape all about Lancashire's language.

Including a light-hearted academic lecture from Peter and musical numbers by Derick, their Gradely Lancashire tape is going down a treat.

"We did 200 tapes to begin with and those went in days.

"I have to keep phoning the producers for more copies and the way things are going, I expect sales to get even stronger," says retired insurance broker Derick, who now lives at Thirlmere Drive, Withnell.

"It was my idea. Peter and I both belonged to the Lancashire Dialect Society, which became defunct some three years ago, and I was concerned that we should try and preserve our roots which is what our language is.

"As a result of the tape, libraries in Lancashire are hoping we will put on a series of lecture-concerts about the dialect."

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