'Those were the days, my friend...'

There's a saying that you should never meet your heroes because they're sure to disappoint.. I'm sure that's true for some, but I've been lucky enough to meet a few of mine over the years from the worlds of sport, music (sadly I wasn't quite old enough to meet Hendrix) and also within my own sphere, advertising. I'm happy to say that none of them have ever been anything less than I imagined them.

In 1971, when I was a kid, my family moved from the Black Country to Hampshire and growing up as a Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter in a school bathed in Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea scarves wasn't always easy - but while my mates had their Keegans, their Jennings, their Bradys, their Macaris and their Wilkins, I had Kenny Hibbitt - 'King Kenny' as he was known. Ken Hibbitt had everything - balance, poise, vision, strength on the ball, distribution and was great with either foot. He made 574 appearances for Wolves, scoring 114 goals and is without doubt one of the finest players ever to play for us. I saw him play many, many times and as I write this I have the memory of an incredible goal he scored in an FA Cup Semi-Final in 1979 with a sublime turn and shot from miles out that looped over Pat Jenning's head. I met him 2/3 times as a kid, one of many outside the game pushing an autograph book and pen at him and he was only ever polite, funny and everything you'd want a football hero to be. His recent autobiography was a sell-out and I missed out on getting a copy to add to my library so I decided to contact Kenny direct recently and he located one for me, going to some trouble to get it and signing it to - such is the man. For a few moments while we were swapping emails I was right back there as a kid getting his autograph but also a kid in the park, the famous Old Gold and black shirt on, trying to emulate that fantastic Jennings lob - I may even have managed it once (but that's possibly just my memory playing tricks on me).

It's good to have heroes and the best of them never lose that aura.