Comedian Leigh Francis Says He Was Haunted By The Ghost Of A "Little Man"

It wouldn't be Friday 13th if things didn't get a little bit spooky, and that's exactly what happened on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X this morning. Comedian and actor Leigh Francis, best known for his character Keith Lemon, told listeners that he was haunted by the ghost of a "little man" when he was a child.

The 'Celebrity Juice' host told Moyles, "I didn't have an imaginary friend, but what I did have was when I was a little kid, I used to wake up in the middle of the night laughing at the little man at the end of my bed." Leigh says he'd wake up laughing, and his mum would ask, "What are you laughing at?"

Following a family loss, Leigh's mum even brought in a spiritualist to investigate the haunting. Leigh explained, "We had a spiritualist come to our house when my dad passed away and, I don't know what the PC term is, it's little person, isn’t it?" After a nod from Chris, Leigh continued, "She says, 'You have a little person that stands on your landing that looks after you.' And we were all looking at each other like, 'Oh, that's the little man at the end of my bed that I used to laugh about.' And she says, 'And your dad visits you and he stands near your guitar,' which was at the end of my bed. So I moved my guitar, because I didn't want my dad watching me explore my body."

Chris and his team, including Dominic Byrne, laughed at this confession, which prompted producer Pippa Taylor to ask, "That's the first thing that came into your head?"

Leigh admitted, "Yeah, yeah. I was much younger, so I used to explore my body a lot more. Nowadays I just used it for functionality!"

You can watch Leigh's interview with Moyles in full on Global Player, in which he speaks about his new autobiography and how difficult it's been to separate the fictional Keith Lemon, from his own identity.