LONDON – Amid the economic gloom and coming pall of winter, it is perhaps unsurprising that we British are looking for a glimmer of light to brighten our damp and dreary evenings.

Quickstep forward our very own ray of sunshine – in the unlikely shape of John Sergeant, a roly-poly former political reporter for the BBC.

John Sergeant and his dancing partner Kristina Rihanoff seen in a promotional photo for “Strictly Come Dancing.”

Sergeant, 64, made his name in the hallowed corridors of Westminster, interviewing such political heavyweights as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

It is only fair to point out that, in the intervening years, Sergeant has become something of a heavyweight himself. 

He was also born with two left feet.

All of which makes it somewhat unlikely that he would become a national pin-up. 

But for six weeks now, thousands of TV viewers have defied common sense to keep Sergeant on “Strictly Come Dancing,” the British equivalent of “Dancing with the Stars,” booting off more accomplished contestants.

Some two dozen Facebook sites now are devoted to keeping him there.

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LONDON – Remembrance Day has always been a special part of my life. As a kid, my home in the North of England was full of talk about the wars. 

My parents had lived, struggled – and danced – through World War II. My nimble-footed dad was the “Master of Ceremonies” at his munitions factory weekly “socials,” and whisked his soon-to-be-bride (my mum) off her feet there.

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The last surviving British World War I veterans from left to right, Henry Allingham,112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108, gather at the start of the Armistice Day commemorations on Nov. 11 in London.

My uncle had fought the Japanese in Burma, and looked thin and gaunt the rest of his days. That may have been jungle warfare, or marrying my mum’s bad-tempered sister. Either way, it was a battle.

But my grandfather could beat them all, by fighting in what was once called the Great War – ironically, “the war to end wars” – World War I.

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