TELEVISION star Jimmy Savile launched the first Bolton marathon in 1981 and now his spitting image is hoping to help resurrect the race.

Savile-lookalike Fred Martindale, aged 73, of Lord's Stile Lane, Bromley Cross, is putting his name forward to launch the marathon nicknamed "The Beast" if it returns after almost 20 years.

Proposals to restore the marathon, which was last held in 1987, were mooted last week at the launch of a five-year masterplan for tourism in Bolton.

Mr Martindale, who said he has been stopped on the streets of Bolton by Savile fans for 25 years, is now on the books of a London lookalike agency and has made television appearances on lookalike shows.

Mr Martindale, who still works at EBM Builders Merchant, in Bentinck Street, Bolton, said: "If they bring the marathon back, I could make it as much like the first one as possible.

"I reckon I could run a couple of hundred yards, as well."

Mr Martindale actually met his double in 1968.

"I was working for the RAC, and I fixed his car when he broke down in Manchester," he said.

"I didn't look like him then, though, because my hair hadn't gone white."