THIS week brought the news that Tom Jones is to be the headline act at the Larmer Tree Festival.

It’s very exciting.

Larmer Tree always does draw in good acts, and some pretty big names at that.

But Sir Tom is in another league altogether.

The man is a legend.

He’s sold 100m records and had 36 Top 40 hits in the UK and 19 in the US. He got a Grammy Award for best new artist in 1966 and, generally, if you want to see him, you’ll be crammed into a massive stadium.

Larmer Tree will be the smallest crowd – 4,000 people – he has played since he hit the big-time in the 1960s, so all credit to the organisers for managing to bag him for the festival.

They wanted him last year, but these things aren’t easy to arrange and it didn’t happen.

Not ones to be put off, they persevered, and in the end all their hard work paid off.

Sir Tom is one of those rare entertainers who manages to appeal to all age groups.

I remember him guest starring on the Morecambe and Wise Show when I was kid, and I remember years later singing along to Delilah in the student union when I was 18 (I went to a Welsh university, where it’s pretty much the law that you sing along whenever Tom Jones is played – and woe betide anyone who dares say a word against him).

Songs like Delilah, What’s New Pussycat? and It’s Not Unusual are tunes that everyone knows. And – whether you’re in Wales or not – you can’t help but join in the choruses.

In 1999 Sir Tom released Reload, reinventing himself for a new generation with songs like Sexbomb and duets with the likes of Cerys Matthews and Robbie Williams.

The album was different and unexpected, but its tunes were every bit as catchy as those we know best.

And now he is on our television screens every weekend on BBC1’s The Voice.

I have to admit, I don’t watch it, but plenty of people do – about eight million every week, most of them probably too young to know the details of Sir Tom’s long career.

They’re probably also too young to realise that Sir Tom could easily out sing the singers he’s coaching.

So this summer is the perfect time to find out.