Comedian, presenter and singer Alexander Armstrong is celebrating the release of his new album with a signing session in HMV in the Bentall Centre on Friday, November 24.

In a Winter Light is Mr Armstrong’s third album, already having two top-10 successes under his belt.

Perhaps best known for his comedic work and presenting the BBC quiz show Pointless, the classically trained baritone worried he had missed his chance to involve music in his career in a big way.

He said: “There was a heart-breaking moment when I was 22 and had just left university. I went on a tour and thought ‘this could be the last time I get to work at this level’.

“I never stopped my relationship with music, but I had kind of resigned myself to it being a small part of my life. It’s been lovely to come back to music at this level and to find myself surrounded by the kind of talent I’m working with.

“I’d forgotten how much I’d missed it.”

In a Winter Light is a Christmas album, a field of music Mr Armstrong feels strongly about.

He said: “I have so many Christmas songs I adore. I think there is such a wealth of music there. I don’t know any other kind of music we have such a close relationship with.

“There are itches we want to have scratched when it comes to Christmas.”

Despite it being a Christmas album, it was recorded at the height of summer.

Mr Armstrong said: “Inevitably anything Christmassy has to be filmed or recorded well in advance. When I recorded the Pimms advert I was in Chile in mid-August, and Christmas Pointless shows we record in about three tonnes of wool on the hottest day of the year, it seems.”

Fans will be able to meet Mr Armstrong in store at 5.30pm, to have a copy of the new album signed by the man himself.

He said: “It’s really nice to come down and meet people. I think it’s going to be lovely. It’s lovely to mark the day when the record comes out.”