An autograph that'll last a lifetime

Masterton's Mal Harley and Andrea Cook had the chance to meet Billy Connolly at Hood Aerodrome over Easter. Photo / Supplied

A Masterton man has a permanent reminder of his chance meeting with Billy Connolly after having the comedian's autograph tattooed on his arm.

The comedian, along with actor and television host Stephen Fry, spent the long weekend at director Peter Jackson's Masterton estate.

They also took a flight in a Tiger Moth from Hood Aerodrome - where fan Mal Harley was lucky enough to run into the visiting celebrity.

Mal Harley and partner Andrea Cook had taken visiting family to the aerodrome to have a look at the planes.

The Tiger Moth was flying when the group arrived, but on the forecourt the group noticed some familiar faces.

"We saw Peter Jackson and the other person was Stephen Fry ... the Tiger Moth landed and Billy Connolly got out of the plane," said Mr Harley.

After attracting Connolly's attention, the star stopped and posed for photos and signed autographs.

Mr Harley said he'd been a fan of Connolly "for centuries" and after getting his autograph on his arm made it permanent by having it tattooed.

"He was saying, the day before, him, Peter Jackson and Stephen Fry had actually been playing laser strike in the castle," he said.

"He's a really, really nice guy - just how you see on TV ... we were just so excited."

Fry also tweeted about the visit, saying: "Laser gun battle. Epic slaughter. Measureless carnage. Oh the humanity. It shouldn't be such fun."

Ms Cook also had her jeans autographed, and said it was really cool to meet the comedian.

"And at the end we said 'you've made our day, no you've made our month, no you've made our life' and he said 'you're not the first," Ms Cook said.