ONLY Fools and Horses star David Jason was filming in York just the day before it was revealed he was to become a first-time father at the age of 60.

The Touch of Frost actor was at historic Castlegate House, in Castlegate, York, to shoot scenes for ITV's forthcoming Micawber, an adaptation of Dickens's classic David Copperfield, which is to be screened at Christmas. Jason plays the title role.

The impressive building, which was completed in 1763 having been designed by York architect John Carr for the Recorder of York, was being used as the backdrop for a dining scene.

And York dining history expert Peter Brown, director of York Civic Trust, which is based across the street in Fairfax House, nipped over the road to give the crew some helpful advice.

He said: "There's a very nice dining room at the back on the ground floor and they were filming a dining room scene there.

"It was set up as a middle-class dining room where the family were not quite wealthy enough to give their guests gravy and so there is a bit of tension.

"I went over to look at the scene and I was able to give a few suggestions on how to lay the table."

Mr Brown, who has made a study of dining habits through the ages, and other Fairfax House staff caught a glimpse of the star in his Micawber costume - a cream waistcoat, cravat, and woolly sideburns.

He said: "He saw us watching and he gave us a wave.

"I didn't know about him becoming a father. Perhaps that's why he was so chirpy."

News that the actor and his partner, Gill Hinchcliffe, are expecting a baby in spring 2001 made headlines around the world yesterday.

The couple were said to be "absolutely delighted".

They first met in 1989 when Hinchcliffe became a production assistant with Yorkshire Television.

Castlegate House is home to a masonic lodge and was the site of The Mount Friends Girls School from 1831 until 1857.