IN my time, I've made a speech before the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, spoken to countless organisations, and compered numerous events.

But last night's dress rehearsal for Titanic: The Musical at Darlington Civic Theatre will go down as the most stressful thing I've ever done.

I've been asked to play the role of William Stead, once the editor of The Northern Echo, who died when the Titanic sank.

It's a bit-part really. I'm involved for the historical connection to Darlington, and the consequent publicity for the show, rather than my performing ability.

Even so, it involves a lot of costume changes and there's a lot to remember. It's a lot more complicated than I ever imagined - and I made a hash of one of my most important scenes.

It's a smoking room scene and the centre-piece is the actual chair William Stead used when he was editor of the Echo.

The idea is that when the curtain goes up for that particular scene, I'm sitting in the historic chair, reading a book, while other gentlemen smoke cigars and play cards.

I have a prior scene - The Latest Rag - which requires me to wear a light suit and hat. Straight after that, I have to get changed into a posh evening suit for the smoking room.

The trouble is that my dressing room is two floors up. I raced upstairs, changed suits, checked my false beard in the mirror, but then got chatting with another member of the cast.

My big mistake was to think I had more time than I really did. I returned to the wings and, to my horror, the smoking room scene was already well under way, with the Stead's famous chair embarrassingly empty in the spotlight.

I froze, wondering what to do: should I stick or twist - stay hidden in the wings or gatecrash?

I chose the latter and strode into the smoking room, trying to look confident.

But in the panic, I forgot my book, leaving me twiddling my thumbs in a cold sweat for the entire scene. A sinking feeling doesn't nearly cover it.

William Stead isn't supposed to perish until the end of the show - but he died a death prematurely last night.

The curtain goes up before a paying audience for the first show at 7.15pm tonight. Hopefully (and I've got lots of things crossed here) it'll be alright on the night.