HORDES of excitable TOWIE fans queued for hours to meet popular TV star James Argent when he visited Waterstones this afternoon.

James ‘Arg’ Argent, star of ITV2 reality show The Only Way Is Essex, was at the Festival Place store to sign copies of his book, Living It Arg.

The book details his relationships with co-stars and tells all about what life is like for him and his friends when the cameras stop rolling.

The 26-year-old visited Basingstoke as part of a whistle-stop book-signing tour around the country.

Issues with traffic meant he was more than half an hour late for the signing, but his many fans who queued round the store to meet him didn’t seem to mind.

Demi Logue and her friend Chloe Green were first in line after waiting for more than two hours for a chance to meet their hero.

The pair, who are both students at BCoT, said it had been well worth the wait.

Demi, 18, said: “It was amazing, he was exactly like we expected.

“I’m a massive TOWIE fan and Arg is definitely my favourite person on the show. It was so exciting to meet him.”

Chloe, 17, said: “I love how the first thing he did when he came in was to take a picture with the fans for his twitter feed and it’s brilliant that we were right at the front.”

Arg, who is signing copies of his book in his hometown of Essex later today, said he really appreciated all the support of his fans in Basingstoke.

He said: “I really appreciate the fact that everyone’s made the effort to come here today. “I’m sorry for being late - the traffic was a nightmare. I have some amazing fans.”