SOME people struggle all their lives to reach where they want to be, and never get near their goal.

Others, like Heath Ashton, the former lorry driver from Tiverton, make the sunlit uplands of pure joy relatively early in life.

At the tender age of 33 he told me that his life was 'a dream come true' and, in his family's eyes, 'I can't do anything more than this'.

So what you're asking yourself – if you are not a regular GMTV viewer that is – does Heath actually do, to bring about such an outpouring of happiness?

Truth is, he impersonate Elvis.

Not only that, but he does it so well that he won the GMTV competition organised in association with the Elvis Presley Fan Club to find the king of King impersonators.

The first prize was the chance to front a huge show called Tribute To the King – The Ultimate Elvis Show which begins a national tour this month and comes to Plymouth Pavilions on June 23.

So how does someone suddenly discover that they want to pull on those famous blue suede shoes?

'I've just found I can do it,' he said with a touching modesty. 'I've always been well into the music. I love rock and roll, and it just comes naturally.'

Growing up he liked Bad Manners, Madness and 'all the usual 80s things,' he always felt he was a little bit different from his friends because once they were out of the way, the rock 'n roll records were brought out of their hiding place.

The 'Elvis thing,' began at the birth of karaoke, when people seemed to appreciate what he did, and almost before he knew it he was in front of the cameras of ITV's Stars In Their Eyes – which he won both here and in Spain.

But he almost left it too late to enter this latest competition. It was down to the last four days before the entry deadline when some friends stopped him in the street and asked him if he had seen anything about it.

They gave him a number and without much hesitation he rang it.

'You had to sing one song to a panel of four – one of them was promoting it all, a vocal trainer, a television celebrity and a member of the Elvis Presley fan club. It was a tough panel.'

So tough in fact that because of a few late (working) nights beforehand he only just scraped through as one of the extras in the first qualifying heat.

From then on it was tightly-crossed finger time as pelvises were gyrated more and more desperately. From the original 1,000 entries 500 were selected. Then 50 emerged from each heat, each one capable of walking out on stage and performing.

It must have been increasingly hard to stay cool as 40 became four and then finally one, but Heath managed it.

'I don't think I look like him,' he confessed. 'You get people who think they are Elvis, they go right over the top.'

For the duration of the tour he has given up his job as working in dusty sheds with all those diesel fumes weren't doing his voice any good. Instead he has been having special vocal training, swimming and weight lifting to keep fit and trying to lose weight.

The tour is a special one because it is the only one ever to receive the backing of the powers-that-be at Gracelands – Elvis' former mansion in Memphis, now the hub of a world wide industry.

The show will be visually stunning too, with more than £10,000 being spent on costumes alone. They are being produced by Elvis' original team in the States, ensuring that every stitch and bead are exactly as The King would have had them.

One cape alone, which will only feature in the finale, took over 350 hours to complete and stands as a work of art in itself.

Heath is particularly looking forward to the show in Plymouth as The Pavilions will be the nearest theatre to home and he hopes his wife and five children – who think what he's doing is 'brilliant' will be in the audience.

But he says the only place to be for Elvis fans on August 16 – the 25th anniversary of his death – is Wembley arena where a very special celebration and commemoration will take place.

'It's nice that it will be in this country because he never came here,' Heath says.

'He released 2,000 songs in his lifetime, that's why he's so popular, there is something for everybody. He's too popular to die.'

l The box office can be contacted on 01752 229922. Don't forget, if you're an Elvis fan, it's now or never.