QUICK-THINKING chef Brian Delap went for a night out and ended up saving a man's life.

Brian was out with his girlfriend watching a friend performing at the Crown Hotel in Weymouth when he heard someone shout that a man had collapsed.

He said: "I looked around and saw the man's legs on the floor through the crowd. He wasn't moving and I heard someone say he had banged his head."

Brian, 46, did a first aid course in a former job eight years ago, and is one of the first aiders at the Richmoor Hotel where he works, but he'd never before had to put his skills to the test.

He said: "The man had no respiration and no pulse when I got to him. I started mouth-to-mouth and resuscitation and fortunately got him back, thank God, after about a minute.

"When he came round his friend was trying to tell him what had happened because he had just blacked out and had no memory of it.

"He sort of realised and said thank you but he was really dazed and still not quite with it - he didn't really take it in."

Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and examined the man, who was a guest at the hotel, saying he was well enough to stay out of hospital.

Brian, of Chapelhay Heights in Weymouth, said: "Everyone asks how I felt but I didn't really feel anything at the time: You don't have time to think, you just act and do what has to be done.

"Afterwards I thought about it and felt very shaken up, the reality of what I'd done sank in and I was a bit shocked. I couldn't settle for a while.

"When the commotion had died down we went to the bar to get a drink and were told by the manager that we didn't have to pay for them. We didn't like to turn him down!"

Though Brian played down his role in the drama he has won admiration from friends and colleagues.

His manager Nigel Godwin said: "Brian didn't even tell me about it, his girlfriend did, she's as proud as punch of him. She was there too and saw what happened.

"I think it's a wonderful thing he did. Most people wouldn't have known how to react, I know I would have just dived for the phone to call 999 and from what I can gather, everyone else just stood there and stared.

"Brian's a very calm fellow, very level-headed, he's just the kind of person you want around in a crisis."

The Crown Hotel said a guest had collapsed on Saturday night and Dorset Ambulance NHS Trust confirmed it attended the scene.