SINCE he broke the world record for flying around the world non-stop in a balloon, Brian Jones has been awarded an OBE by the Queen, had dinner with Buzz Aldrin and last week President Bill Clinton asked for his autograph.

But perhaps the most memorable moment he has had since he and co-pilot Swiss Bertrand Piccard completed their historic 20-day balloon flight on March 21, came when he got to meet his long-time heroine.

When my wife Jo and I moved into our house in Erlestoke High Street, we found out that Dawn French and her husband Lenny Henry had recently moved out of next door and Dawn's uncle had moved in, said 52-year-old Mr Jones.

Mr Jones had long admired Dawn French and when he sat with her uncle last Christmas, discussing his up-coming record attempt, he made a bet.

I said if I broke the record and completed the flight, then I wanted to meet Dawn, he said.

When the record was broken, Mr Jones' neighbour was true to his word and Mr Jones got to meet Dawn French, but only after he agreed to go into her daughter's school and talk about his historic flight.

She was wonderful, absolutely beautiful and everything I hoped she would be. Her character is just like the characters she plays on screen, bright bubbly and a lot of fun, said Mr Jones.

But meeting heroes is not the only thing which Mr Jones has used his new found fame for. He said: I think it is a terrible waste if people cannot use their fame for something good. he said.

This is why he and co-pilot Bertrand Piccard are launching Winds of Hope, a charity which will help those people and especially children whose plight is not at the forefront of the public eye.

The idea for the foundation came to him and Mr Piccard while their Breitling Orbiter balloon was over the African desert.

Mr Jones said: We were flying over Africa and we were seeing some really amazing and really moving scenery. You expect the desert to be flat and lifeless, but the different colours and the shapes in the sand were amazing and you really couldn't help but respect and admire the desert.

As we were looking at this amazing thing, Bertrand turned to me and said 'Why are we so lucky to be up here and looking down on such an amazing and beautiful thing?'

'If we were to take a telescope and focus on what we could see, we would see men trying to kill each other and all the while there are children starving. If only we could somehow show people this amazing thing we are seeing and show them how futile all the fighting and war is'.''

It was then the two men made a vow that if they were successful, they would not donate money they raised to a charity but set up a foundation.

The idea behind Winds of Hope, the foundation the two men have created, is to highlight the suffering of people and children that goes unreported.

When you have a disaster like the Turkey earthquake then it is in the media and it is at the forefront of everyone's minds. But there are so many people all over the world whose plight has been forgotten, we feel it is important to highlight the plight of these people.

Each year the foundation will make presentations to chosen projects on March 21, the anniversary of the landing of the Breitling Orbiter. Mr Jones admits there was also a slightly selfish reason behind creating the foundation, so he and Mr Piccard would meet at least once a year.

This week Mr Jones launched his book about the voyage, The Greatest Adventure. On the cover he says: We took off as pilots, flew as friends, and landed as brothers.

He has read the book twice already and says there are parts that still make him laugh and which bring a tear to his eye.

When I think back to how close we came to dying over the Atlantic Ocean and this amazing relationship which Bertrand and I forged while we were dealing with the various difficult situations we found ourselves in it really does move me to tears.

Their brush with death came when he and Mr Piccard were high above the Pacific and it seemed they had no choice but to go down.

Because of changing weather conditions, the path they were expecting to follow across the Pacific to North America was impossible. They had been told by control to go south, and follow the same route which Richard Branson had taken on his failed attempt just weeks before them. But the pilots felt they did not have enough fuel and faced ending up in the ocean.

In his book, Mr Jones said: I'd always had this fear of the unknown and it was a comfort to know Bertrand was scared as well. But just admitting it didn't make me feel better for long. The worst thing for me was thinking about what might happen if we ditched.

Mr Jones began to plan exactly what should be done if they had to ditch into the cold Pacific Ocean.

If we found ourselves upside-down in the ocean, our only chance would be to pile all loose equipment at the front and and hope the gondola would tip down at a steep enough angle to bring the rear hatch clear of the water. Even then, we might easily drown trying to escape: with a hatch open the gondola could fill with water and sink, taking us with it. We were six, seven, eight days away from rescue.

Mr Jones, who famously said on landing in the Egyptian desert he wanted a cup of tea like a good Englishman, says he loves being in Erlestoke.

I get to come home so rarely now it is like having a Christmas all the time when I do manage to get back. Even when you are meeting all these famous people, you realise they are just people.

And then when I get home it is just the same as it always was.

Mr Jones will be all over Britain for the next few weeks, promoting his book, then he is off to Europe for more promotion before going on to America.

Although he says he is getting too old to carry on being an adventurer, he has not ruled out a balloon trip with friend David Hempelman-Adams.

He is a real adventurer and he is always talking about flying at ridiculous altitudes and breaking records and now he has his pilot's licence who knows?

l Mr Jones' book is published by Headline and priced at £18.99.