HE doesn't know it, but if there were "three people in my relationship", the third would have to be Mr Tumble.

The contemporary clown has been welcome in my house since my daughter first discovered the CBeebies programme Something Special two years ago, and there is no sign of her (or my) love of him abating.

Mr Tumble (aka Justin Fletcher) is the sort of consummate children’s entertainer who could win the heart of any mum with his buffoonery, slapstick and incredible array of characters.

Not only that, he incorporates the sign language Makaton into his programme and is helping to educate a generation of children about learning disabilities.

I’m clearly not the only one who appreciates Justin Fletcher MBE, as Discovery Museum’s Great Hall was packed to capacity at this Seven Stories event.

Ostensibly, this was a book launch for Justin’s Jokes – a Christmas cracker joke book – but in reality it was an opportunity for kids to get very, very excited.

Justin delivered the characters from Something Special and sketch programme Gigglebiz (a bit like The Fast Show for pre-schoolers), groaned at his own jokes and got everyone doing the hokey cokey.

He completed an hour of madcap entertainment with his new single Hands Up, taken from his new album of kids’ songs.

He’s taken on pre-school telly and won hands down, but whether he can defeat The X Factor Christmas shoo-in remains to be seen.