Grayson Perry in Sunderland

The last thing you expect when you go out for a big family meal to celebrate your birthday at the local eatery is for an international transvestite artist to come in and sit at the next table. 

But last night, he did.

Grayson Perry has been in Sunderland all week filming a documentary for Channel 4 about the city, there's even a facebook group all about his time here.

The last entry on the facebook page from him says that "Sunderland has been fantastic".

Let's just hope that the London-centric Channel 4's media production team will portray the city that way when we get on to screen.