Doherty glad prison kept him from first Royal Albert Hall show

Rocker Pete Doherty's 2008 prison spell had one benefit for the troubled star - it meant the cancellation of a Royal Albert Hall concert in London that he was not looking forward to.

The British bad boy was jailed last April for drug use and failing to turn up to probation hearings on time, and he admits that as he was being sentenced in at West London Magistrates Court, he could only think about the solo show that had to be scrapped.

Doherty says: "I was thinking: 'Thank God, I don't have to do that.'"

But the show was rescheduled until after the singer/songwriter's release - and he now admits he has no idea why he was so worried about it.

"I had it in my head that I was going to be playing to stately families in boxes, staring at me down opera glasses, saying: 'Oh dear, what is that young man blabbering about?'

"(But) there was a bloody stage invasion. I had to disguise myself in a fireman's hat, or else I was going to get squished."