A FREEZERMAN from the North-East may have the chance to meet Hollywood star Richard Gere - in Antarctica.

Electrician Allan Thomas is working at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station, where he has spent much of Easter penguin spotting.

But the 31-year-old bachelor revealed in a despatch to The Northern Echo that he may also have an opportunity of rubbing shoulders with the Pretty Woman and Chicago star.

He said: "We've had some interesting news - if I choose to do my second year here, we will be having a guest.

"Richard Gere will be wintering and filming down here - so I'll have to give him some stick."

Mr Thomas, from Redcar, east Cleveland, who left his job as a freezerman at Express Creamery in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, in January, maintains the station's vital power supply.

He is due to spend a further two-and-a-half years on the frozen continent.

He said: "I have been digging out fuel drums all day and have been out in minus 45 so far. That was not nice, not with my shaved head anyway."

As 24-hour darkness draws in, he must wear a monitor to check on how his body copes without light.

He is also subject to other tests to do with his sleeping patterns.

But it is not all work, and Mr Thomas has returned from a quick holiday when temperatures soared to minus 25.

"It was lovely. Very, very hard going, lots of walking with crampons on and climbing up stuff. I got some good pictures but, as there are no landmarks, the scale is a little hard to capture.

"We are hoping for some auroras tonight.

"The sun is just poking out at about 11 in the morning, so it has been a while since I got up before sunrise."

He added that the 16-man, tight-knit team of scientists and technicians have fun by organising themed parties.

Antarctica is 58 times the size of the UK, but the Halley Research Centre is on the Brunt ice shelf.

It was British researchers at the research centre who discovered the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.