WWF and Walt Disney star The Rock loves Benny Hill and UB40 and sings a song for the Sunday Mercury

Apr 12 2009

WRESTLING legend turned movie star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has revealed his two secret passions – Birmingham reggae band UB40 and Benny Hill.

Now 36, Dwayne is the American football star who became a world champion wrestler before conquering Hollywood with The Scorpion King and The Game Plan.

This weekend he’s back in a rip-roaring Disney thriller with teenage aliens, Race To Witch Mountain (PG) – a reimagining of the original 1975 Donald Pleasance movie.

The son of a black Canadian father and a Samoan mother, Dwayne was California-born into a wrestling dynasty – his grandfather threw Sean Connery over his shoulder in 60s Bond movie You Only Live Twice.

But, asked whether he would prefer to listen to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, ELO or UB40 from the Midlands, The Rock has only one answer.

“I would have to go with UB40,” he says. “There’s this one song. They did that song called Kingston Town...”

And then he bursts into song, delivering the chorus.

“It’s fantastic. And they also did Red Red Wine, right?”

Dwayne also recalls wrestling at Birmingham’s NEC during UK tours – and falling in love with Benny Hill.