A Dorset man living in Canada has told of the ‘remarkable reunion’ that he experienced with an old school friend – thousands of miles from their original home.

Stephen Wadhams grew up in Weymouth and moved overseas in 1974.

Mr Wadhams had attended university in Sheffield before continuing a career at the BBC in London, a path that eventually led him abroad.

He explained that he was performing in an orchestra in the Royal Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia when the chance encounter happened.

Mr Wadhams’ wife was sat in the audience when she decided to ‘make some harmless small talk’ with the man sat beside her, telling him, ‘I’m here on my own – my husband's in the chorus.’

In response, the man had asked her what her husband’s name was – so she told him – and was met with a raised eyebrow.

Mr Wadhams said: “He raised an eyebrow, paused for a moment and then, in a distinct British accent said, would he by any chance be originally from the UK. My wife said ‘yes, but it was a long time ago,’ then the man kept going, more animated now, saying, ‘is he from the south west of England - Dorset perhaps?’”

The man was Adrian Sly and it turned out he and Mr Wadhams had attended Weymouth Grammar School together.

Mr Wadhams added: “What are the chances that, in an audience of 1,500 people in a city perched at the western tip of a country as vast as Canada, my wife would find herself sitting next to a man who, over sixty years before, was a schoolmate of her husband in a small English seaside town.”

It wasn’t long before the two met and began sharing memories of their grammar school days.

Mr Sly left school in 1963 to become a store manager with W.H Smith, moving to Canada six years later when the company was expanding there.

He has also worked in the publishing industry, but his most enjoyable job came much later driving tourists around British Columbia in double decker buses.