Comedian John Oliver 'couldn't believe' news Universal Studios was coming to his hometown of Bedford

Oliver who grew up in Bedford and was a pupil at Mark Rutherford School, now works in the United States as a TV talk show host and comedian.

He was appearing on the Late Night show hosted by Seth Meyers when he joked about plans to open Europe's first Universal theme park on the outskirts of Bedford.

He told Meyers during Monday night’s show he’d only just found out about the plans, adding that while it was not the worst decision by NBC Universal it was the funniest.

"One of your producers said 'they're opening Universal Studios in Bedford'”, he told Meyers, “and I said 'no they're not'. Just with an innate sense of confidence of knowing what Universal Studios is and knowing what Bedford is and thinking 'those two do not fit together'.”

He said: "Apparently they're doing it in an old abandoned brickworks, which already seems like a bold choice.

"Now they're going to build a Universal Studios there, which feels like not the worst decision that NBC Universal has ever made, but it's definitely the funniest."

He added: "I was looking at all of their renderings and thinking, 'This is spectacular'.

"But you might be promising Universal Studios and instead you have a Paddington [Bear] chain-smoking outside."

Oliver, who holds British and US citizenship, added: "I've been to those brickworks. As a kid, I was in an adaptation of a Dickensian drama, and I played a Victorian orphan," he said.

"And it was in those brickworks, because they still have the kind of air of sadness about them.

"At one point they were, I believe, the largest brickworks in the world."

Universal Studios Bedford is expected to create around 28,000 jobs across creative, hospitality and construction industries as well an estimated £50 billion boost for the economy.

Work is likely to begin in the second half of this year, while Universal believe it should be opening in 2031.

But although the government has given its blessing, the project still has to go through a formal planning process first.

Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld. It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.