It’s easy to see why people become policemen, doctors, journalists, even. But ventriloquists? It’s not as if there are a lot of them around.

But luckily for Steve Hewlett, growing up in Basingstoke, there was just such a person and he lived down the road. “Jimmy Tamley won New Faces 1987,” says Steve. “I approached him and he was great; gave me tips, lent me books. For my birthday he gave me one called I Can See Your Lips Move.”

If, at this point, you are wondering just how you could fill more than a chapter, let alone a mini-library of publications on ventriloquism then you probably don’t know that the origins of this seemingly quaint stage act go all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, who regarded ‘gastromancy’, as they called it, to be a religious practice.

They believed the noises produced by the stomach were the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead as well as foretell the future.

This is quite a long way from Ray Allen and Lord Charles, Keith Harris and Orville and, indeed, Steve and his new character, Little Keith Melon, based on the character Keith Lemon. But as a youth Steve was gripped by the art. “From the age of 15-22 I was doing talent competitions constantly because that was my work,” he says. “I didn’t turn professional until I was 22.”

Until BGT, which propelled him onto the national variety circuit with his Simon Cowell and Sinitta dummies, his most memorable show took place right here, in Bournemouth, on the stage he’ll be gracing this evening.

He’d been asked to join the Daily Echo’s Star Trail competition in 1997 and found himself in front of a packed Pavilion audience being judged by no less a personage than Amanda Holden.

“I won the final of the Bournemouth competition and Lionel Blair gave me the trophy in the semi-final,” he remembers.

Did Amanda – lately of this parish herself – remember this happy occasion when she judged him again in BGT? “To be honest I don’t think she did, it was a completely different act,” he says.

The two competitions were 17 years apart and in that time Steve worked on cruises, at holiday camps and was privileged to accompany Ken Dodd on and off for three years.

“He’s fantastic, very keen to help young variety acts, and as he started off as a ventriloquist he has a passion for the art,” enthuses Steve. “He’s a wonderful man, always sits down and has a little chat, talks about the good old days, gives you advice.”

Steve is big on advice and as a child wrote to ventriloquists such as Ray Allen, Roger de Courcey and Keith Harris. They all replied. “They were very generous and I kept all the letters they sent,” says Steve. He’s happy to return the favour, penning letters of encouragement to the young people who write to him asking if ventriloquism is a career they should take up.

“BGT’s helped revive interest so I say to them that it’s a great thing to do, you just have to move with the times,” he says.

He has. He does anything up to 200 shows a year, panto, plus summer seasons and along with his own show he’s also set to star in the Easter panto, Alice in Wonderland, with Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee.

And he can’t stop, even when he’s off-stage. “I do a routine about this in my show, about being in the post office saying ‘Cashier Number 2, please’ and sending people to the wrong windows,” he says. “It causes mayhem! I also wrote a list of places where you really shouldn’t be a ventriloquist.”

And these are? “Funerals. And airports, going through security.” But isn’t he tempted? “No! My wife wouldn’t go out with me if I kept doing it outside the home or off-stage.”

Steve Hewlett is at the Bournemouth Pavilion tonight, February 15