IT turned out to be a red letter day when heritage worker Alan Whitworth guided a group around a Northumberland Roman fort.

The party of 10 curators and conservators from the Kremlin Museum in Moscow, on a British Council-organised tour of Scotland, decided that they also had to experience Hadrian’s Wall.

As English Heritage site supervisor Alan led the group around Housesteads fort, he heard the name of one of the party, Dr Elena Gagarina.

With the 50th anniversary of the first flight in space by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin still fresh in his mind, Alan asked Dr Gagarina if it was a common name in Russia.

Dr Gagarina, who is director of the world heritage site Kremlin Museum, answered that it wasn’t.

“So I asked if she was related,” said Alan.

The reply stunned Alan, for Dr Gagarina revealed that she is Yuri Gagarin’s daughter.

The identity of their guest was also a jaw dropper for Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd, which had organised the group’s visit.

Alan said: “I didn’t know who she was and when she told me it was quite overwhelming, unexpected and emotional.

“The moment just happened and it blew me away. I was taken aback to be standing one step away from the first person in space.

“I gathered that she doesn’t talk about it or trade on it.

“I mentioned that Yuri Gagarin’s words when he lifted off were ‘here we go’, and she laughed and said ‘yes, they were’.

“They were a very sociable group and she was very easy and pleasant to talk to.” Dr Gagarina asked the party’s official photographer to take a picture of her with Alan.

“I am waiting for it to arrive. It will be quite a memento,” he said.

Nigel Mills, from Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd who accompanied the group to Housesteads, said: “Alan seemed quite overwhelmed. It was all quite touching because I gather Yuri Gagarin was one of his boyhood heroes.

“It all came as a total surprise and put a whole new perspective on the visit.”