NORTHERN Echo editor Peter Barron received a celebrity ‘good luck’ message before a book-signing event at the weekend.

Mr Barron sold more than 50 copies of his book, Fartin’ Martin Sidebottom, in the signing at the Waterstone’s store, in Darlington’s Cornmill shopping centre.

He received a ‘good-luck’ message on Twitter from former Only Fools and Horses star John Challis, who played Boyice in the iconic sit-com.

The actor is starring as Captain Hook in pantomime in Middlesbrough.

In a blog entry following the event, Mr Barron wrote: “Delighted with [the] book-signing.

“Sold more than 50 copies, each with a free whoopee cushion, and I would have settled for that before I started.

“There was even a good luck message from John Challis.”

The book is the first in the Monstrous Morals series, a collection of rhymes aimed at children who have picked up bad habits.

For more information, visit monstrousmorals.co.uk