FORMER cricketer Graeme Swann is the only Strictly Come Dancing celebrity to have previously visited Blackpool.

The dance show hits the world famous tower ballroom tonight, Saturday, and Swann will be reliving old times - thanks to a Warrington link.

Growing up in Northamptonshire, Swann, 39, regularly visited his grandparents in Warrington, 50 miles from Blackpool.

READ MORE > Swann inspired by his grandparents

He remembers visiting the seaside town to watch the Blackpool Illuminations, the annual turning on of the town's bright lights.

He joked he was the only contestant to have visited Blackpool because the other seven were "southern softies".

He said: "I love it. I love everything about the seaside. It's just brilliant. I was only four years old. When we arrived the lights turned on and I got really miserable because, you know English seaside towns, they have these spinning things that are fluorescent.

"Mum and dad wouldn't let me get on them because they were a pound and I suppose in 1985 that was a lot of money. I wasn't allowed on so I sulked all the way through."

Comparing Blackpool to the Disneyland resorts in America, Swann suggested the latter could not compare.

He said: "I love the English seaside, I honestly do. I love the arcades, the bumper cars, the bag of chips, the stick of rock, the mini golf.

"I love the fact that people come to England and think: 'What the hell is this'. The Americans may go, 'we've got Disneyland,' but they've not got mini golf at Whitley Bay. That's what America doesn't have."

Swann's grandparents have already watched Graeme perform this series - while he performed to their favourite song, The Last Waltz.

Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight, Saturday, at 6.45pm at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom on BBC One.