COMEDIAN and author David Walliams was in the North-East today as part of World Book Day.

Walliams flew into Newcastle as part of his 'Walliams Whirlwind Tour' this afternoon.

He was visiting children at Northern Counties School.

Walliams, meanwhile, has revealed that he once tried to get a date with one of the members of Girls Aloud - amid reports this week that he has split from model wife Lara Stone.

The 42-year-old dispelled the rumour that he and Geordie pop star Cheryl Fernandez-Versini were once nearly an item during a special Comic Relief edition of The Graham Norton Show, in which they appear together on the red couch.

During filming - recorded before reports of his separation emerged - he told Norton: "When Girls Aloud came along I met Louis Walsh and asked him if any of the girls were single and he said he would ask.

"I thought he would do that discreetly, but he called a meeting of all of them and asked, 'Do any of you want to go out with David Walliams?' It was a No. And that was the end of that."

The comic's five-year marriage to Stone, 31, is reportedly on the rocks, with claims in The Sun that she has grown tired of his TV cross-dressing.

The Graham Norton Comic Relief Show airs tomorrow on BBC1 at 10.35pm.