Phil Minton first learned to yodel when he was evacuated to Wales as a child.

A singer who learned to yodel on his Welsh grandmother’s knee as a child will show off his rare talent at the Royal Opera House.

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Singer Phil Minton, who lives in Hertford Road, Muswell Hill, first fell in love with yodelling when he was evacuated during wartime.

Decades later he will flex his vocal chords on the stage of the ROH2 - the Royal Opera House’s contemporary arm - on Sunday (July 31).

The 70-year-old career singer and musician said: “When I was about three-years-old I was evacuated to the Welsh Valleys. My grandmother used to yodel. I don’t know where she got this from, because it’s not something you think of in Welsh mining valleys.

“But she used to yodel on a Saturday afternoon in the front parlour all on her own. I was invited in and I sat on her lap and it was the most amazing sound I’ve ever heard. I’ve wanted to be a yodeller ever since.”

For the last 40 years he has worked as an improvising vocalist in groups and orchestras performing many styles along with yodelling.

His technique has been branded “extreme yodelling” because of the fast speeds he reaches.

Mr Minton is also a trumpet player who has performed with the Mike Westbrook jazz band and dance and rock bands across Europe.

He will perform in Voices Across The World, a celebration of world vocal music, at the ROH2 this weekend and again at the Deloitte Ignite festival at the main Royal Opera House in September.