THE moving story of an 88- year-old Hampshire man's search for a drinking buddy is tugging at heart strings on the other side of the world.

After the Daily Echo published the plight of Second World War veteran Jack Hammond, the story was splashed across the Australian media and reached the attention of a professor at a university in Melbourne.

Speaking to the What Makes Us Happy forum in the Deakin University, psychology professor Robert Cummins spoke about Jack and his sonMichael's offer to pay a stranger £7 an hour plus expenses to share a pint with his dad.

He said: "We have no trouble in recognising that people need paid assistance in other areas and we provide the resources for that.

"I don't think the friendships that emerged from or that were formed by that would be artificial."

He went on to say he thinks a paid for friendship scheme' should be funded by the Government and that by leaving this to volunteers authorities are passing the buck.

Friendship should be treated as a physical need, he added.

Since the Daily Echo ran the story on the widower who lives in Cadnam, his son Michael has been inundated with offers from people who say they would love to share a drink with Jack - many have said they would not want to be paid for their time.

People from all walks of life came forward, from a 22-year-old driver's mate from Totton to a 78-year-old retired kitchen-fitter from Lordshill.

His son Michael, who placed the 25p notice in the local post office window, said: "I wasn't expecting a response like this. My dad could now go down the pub seven nights a week."

Also the landlady of the Compass Inn, in Winsor, Mop Draper, has volunteered to drive the pensioner to her pub and back whenever he wants.

Jack began to feel lonely after he left his friends in Barton on Sea in the New Forest and moved to Forest Edge Care Home last November.

Jack and his son are currently looking at the applications to see who would make a good drinking partner.