HE has one of the most recognisable faces in the world and is followed by autograph hunters and adoring female fans wherever he goes.
But when David Beckham appears in a new advert for Pepsi, the England captain will not be all he seems.
Certain shots of the world's most famous footballer will in fact feature a body double - a 20-year-old trainee hairdresser from Tranent, East
Lothian.
Jamie Windsor, who has worked as a Beckham lookalike for three years, has just returned from filming the top-secret ad in Madrid. And while there, the former fitness instructor got to meet his doppelganger in the flesh.
Details of the ad are being kept under wraps until it is launched in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, but Jamie said today it had been an "amazing experience".
Speaking at his home in Muirside Drive, Jamie said: "I started getting compared to Beckham four or five years ago. I bought myself a pair of Predator boots like his and played in midfield when I played football.
"I used to get stopped in Edinburgh and asked for my autograph a lot. People would run up to me asking me to be in a photo with them.
"The biggest job I've ever done was the Pepsi advert, that was an amazing experience. It was an all-expenses-paid trip and I even got to meet the man himself.
"I was Beckham's body double, which was a great privilege. We have the same body measurements and everything, I'm 6ft tall and so is he."
Jamie, who has played the football star at children's parties and in promotional campaigns for companies, has been signed up by two top lookalike agencies in London, including Susan Scott Lookalikes and Fake Faces. And his uncanny resemblance to Beckham has also won him an army of female fans, wanting to grab a glimpse of their famous heart-throb. Jamie said: "I do get a lot of female attention, especially when I am out and about in town, drinking with my mates, which is all good. I like the job and it's extremely good money as well.
"The females in the family love it. They are always admiring me and it does get a bit annoying sometimes, whereas the males in the family hate it. Most of them don't like the English football teams. I wanted to be a footballer when I was younger. It would have been my dream job, but I was no good. Now I can be famous another way by doing this.
"I know that being a lookalike won't last forever, so I want my hairdressing career as something I can fall back on."
Jamie says he has always been a Manchester United fan. He added: "I wasn't really upset when Beckham joined Real but it was a loss to the team."
Jamie's mum, Lorraine, 49, a housewife said: "It was me that pushed him into this. We used to go shopping in Edinburgh and people would stop us on the street asking for autographs.
"I had to do something about it, so I sent his photo into a couple of agencies. They snapped him up right away. When I look in the paper every day and see the real David Beckham, I automatically think it is my son. Jamie is well known in Tranent. All the kids love him. They don't call him Jamie, they call him Beckham."
A spokeswoman from Susan Scott Lookalikes said: "We think Jamie is a great lookalike and we are sure he is going to do very well. He is easy to get on with, looks good and has an amazing temperament. The sky is the limit."
The full article contains 648 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
