IN 1995, Patrick Combs, a fledgling author and motivational speaker from downtown San Francisco with barely a dollar to his name, drew a smiley face on a $95,000 junk mail cheque from a get-rich-quick company and paid it into his account, hoping to spread a little banking cheer to tellers.

To his astonishment, the cheque cleared.

The amazing but true, edge-of-the-seat story of what happened next has since been turned into a globe-trotting stage production, Man 1 Bank 0, performed by the man himself. After more than ten years of sold-out shows around the world and multiple awards, Combs is finally undertaking his first British tour, dropping into Selby Town Hall on Saturday.

Chris Jones, Selby Town Council's arts officer, is responsible for the American's arrival in Blighty.

“I had the great pleasure of seeing Man 1, Bank 0 at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012, and of the 200 or so performances I've seen there over the years, this was one of the absolute best," he says.

"I was so keen to bring it to Selby that I ended up booking a five-date UK tour for Patrick, just to make sure that we could get him over from the USA and Selby could have a chance to see the show. It’s an absolutely gripping David vs Goliath story, in turn hilarious and astonishing and always brilliantly told. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

As the global banking crisis struck in the latter half of the last decade, the success of Man 1, Bank 0 snowballed.

"The idea of seeing ‘the little man’ get one over on a banking behemoth became increasingly appealing as the story began to resonate with more and more people," says Chris.

"Festival audiences from Aspen to Auckland were queuing up to find out what happened after the bank cashed this ridiculous cheque. Angry banking officers threatened ‘jail time’ and ‘death’; the nation’s leading authority on banking came out of retirement; there were astonishing legal twists and turns and extraordinary worldwide media coverage, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Good Morning America and calls from David Letterman and Jay Leno's chat shows."

The story led Combs to become a TV personality on Paramount's Real TV and Hard Copy shows. Next stop, Selby, where doors open at 7.30pm for Saturday's 8pm show. Tickets cost £13 in advance on 01757 708449 or at selbytownhall.co.uk or £15 on the night.

Before then, Selby Town Hall welcomes former Amen Corner front man Andy Fairweather Low for "an uncharacteristically intimate show" tomorrow night. The 8pm concert has sold out.