A 16-year-old is claiming the title of being the youngest professional Elvis Presley impersonator in the country.

Ben Thompson, of Middleton Road, Carshalton, only started doing impressions of The King last November but has already set his sights on winning the International Elvis Championships in January next year.

The Beacon School student had mastered The Pelvis’ dance moves from an early but his singing left a lot to be desired until his voice broke a couple of years ago.

Ben, known as Sideburns, can regularly be seen bopping down to meet his mates In The Ghetto of Carshalton in full Elvis regalia Including his pink fuschia shirt, gold jacket and his favoured winklepickers.

He said: “It’s quite an unusual singer for someone my age to be interested in, but I’ve always been a bit different.

“Then last year I went to the St Helier Festival and did a few songs and they went down really well.

“Since then I’ve performed at The Pigeon Club where I even had a bra thrown at me, sadly I think the owner was old enough to be my grandmother."

Kelly Thompson, Ben’s mum, said she had almost given up hope that her son would follow in her footsteps as a singer.

She said: “We noticed he could dance from an early age, he had the whole leg thing going on, but his voice was terrible.

"Then, suddenly last year my husband and I heard him sing and he was amazing.”

“Now he’s going to be up against the cream of the cream of Elvis impersonator’s from around the world.”

But before that Carshalton’s own Jailhouse Rocker will be performing some of Elvis’ greatest hits in front of an expected 250 people at a one-off concert at the Beacon School, in Picquets Way, Banstead on April 23.

The teenage King Creole hopes to cause a stir among his female admirers so perhaps won’t be lonesome for many more nights.

The Elvis Championships are held each year on the The King’s birthday, January 8, and the Thompson family are already booked into Birmingham’s own Heartbreak Hotel, The Hilton Metropole, for next year’s event.

Ben said: “Hopefully I can squeeze through the heats and then I can meet the big boys in the final. Its going to be so exciting, I can’t wait.”

Such is Ben’s commitment to the Hillbilly Cat, he has even got his very own Hound Dog, his pet Labrador named Elvis.

Tickets for the concert, which starts at 7.30pm, are £2 and all proceeds go to The Royal Marsden Hospital.