Seventies pop icon Ian Dury must have felt a right blockhead when he returned to Southend to film a major new commercial.

The Essex-born songster had no reason to be cheerful when his Range Rover got stuck in the mud as he was driving to the filming location at low tide.

It had to be towed out by one of Southend foreshore department's eight-wheeled beach vehicles.

Ian, fighting liver cancer, was back in town to star in a 50-second cinema and television commercial for the Sunday Times.

Ian, who comes from Upminster, said: "We started filming in London round the Serpentine, and then driving a buggy round the Natural History Museum.

"Then I was standing on London Bridge station as all the commuters were coming along and I was looking the other way.

"There is a proper script for it. It's a kind of philosophy of life. At Southend I have been discussing things with a couple of llamas.

"They say don't work with children or animals, but these were very nice llamas. I'd say don't work with mud!"

Filming was due to continue later on the beach towards Thorpe Bay, while llamas Sammie and Larry retired to their horse box.

Ian's first Southend gig was at the Blue Boar, Victoria Avenue, in the early 1970s with a band called Kilburn and the High Roads.

Between 1978 and 1980 as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, he had five hit singles and two top ten albums, including Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick which reached number one and was in the charts for 15 weeks, and Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3) which got to number 3 in 1979.

Just before Christmas, he appeared at the Cliffs Pavilion. Ian revealed he had only once visited Billericay, the town he made famous in one of his hit numbers.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.