A SHANTY festival favourite has managed to reach the top of one of the UK’s biggest music selling sites.

War veteran Jim Radford has unexpectedly bounded to the top of the Amazon Best Sellers list, knocking Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber off the number one spot.

The 90-year-old, who is believed to be the youngest D-Day veteran, is a regular performer at the Harwich International Shanty Festival.

Jim wrote the ballad The Shores of Normandy in 1969 after returning to Normandy in memory of is comrades he lost on June 6, 1944.

He was a 15-year-old galley boy on a merchant navy ship at the time of D-Day.

The veteran describes how his comrades “stormed the gates of hell” during the biggest air, naval and land operation in history.

He performed the ballad at the Royal Albert Hall in 2014 and re-released it two weeks ago in a bid to hit the top of the UK singles chart on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

A Harwich Shanty Festival spokesman said: “Jim Radford is a wellknown folk performer.

“He has performed at many maritime festivals around the UK and will be performing at this year’s Harwich Shanty Festival which takes place in October.

“One of the diminishing numbers of survivors from the Second World War, Jim worked on the Naval Wartime Rescue Tug Service, based in Harwich.

“An accomplished singer and performer, Jim will be hosting a meet the artist session, talking, singing and answering questions on this subject, dear to the hearts of many.”

Jim will be donating the profits of his song towards a sculpture to be positioned at Ver-Sur-Mer, in France, honouring the thousands of men and women who died during the Allied landings and the Battle of Normandy.

The single is available to buy from online stores.