In 1988, Michael Jackson was at the peak of his powers; a global jet-setter enjoying stratospheric success.

So how, you may ask, did he end up running through dance routines on a busy summer cross-Channel ferry packed with booze cruise passengers from Dover?

At the time, he was touring the world to sell-out stadiums - with a string of seven shows at Wembley Stadium in the July and August being witnessed by in excess of half a million people alone.

It was a peak the likes of which he would never see again.

His album Bad, released the previous year, was flying off the shelves and spawned a string of huge hit singles. It would go on to sell an estimated 35 million copies.

Not bad, but not a touch on the 68m its predecessor, Thriller, sold globally.

With two of the all-time biggest selling albums to his name - back-to-back releases - the world was his oyster.

But after dazzling the crowds at Wembley, plans to fly to the continent from London were put on hold due to poor weather.

Keen not to add delays into what was already a busy schedule - he had a packed summer line-up of huge outdoor stadium shows across mainland Europe - his entourage decided, instead, to drive him down to Dover and catch a passenger ferry to Calais.

P&O's Pride of Dover was operating the route at the time. Running slightly behind schedule because of the inclement weather, there were believed to be some 2,000 passengers on board - a blend of holidaymakers and day-trippers.

Ferry crews were given little warning to expect a VIP guest.

Speaking several years ago, Tony Finnis was assistant purser at the time. He explained: "I happened to have a hand-held radio listening to the communications between the bridge and shore side.

"All that was being said was that someone was on his way and he won't be long. We didn't know who it was at the time.

"We were standing by when out of the lift came some five or six huge fellows and in the middle was Michael Jackson.

"He was taken to the function room as quickly as possible, but it soon got around the vessel and people were trying to get in to see him. I spent the whole crossing with him and watched him practice his dance routines."

For P&O, having such a celebrated passenger was a moment its publicity department could not allow to slip through its fingers.

Brian Rees handled the media for the firm at the time.

Reminiscing in 2011 about the visit, he said: "Jackson and his entourage took over the function room on board so they could get some peace and quiet en route to tour on the Continent.

"His people called our people about an hour before he travelled to say he was on the way."

Freelance photographer Basil Kidd, from Deal, was summoned to get on board the boat and get some images of the star.

Mr Kidd, who died in 2008, was a well-known figure in local media circles at the time and, for 20 years, had been a freelance photographer for KentOnline's sister title the East Kent Mercury.

A photograph was swiftly arranged which captured Jackson shaking hands with the Pride of Dover's skipper, Senior Master Pat Hammond.

Although snapper Mr Kidd did make one faux pas - he didn't know who the star was and rather than Michael, called him 'Malcolm'.

Explained his son, James Kidd, to KentOnline in 2018: "That's how he managed to get his autograph

"Michael Jackson was at the height of his fame. I don't know whether it was a genuine mistake but I wouldn't put it past my dad not to have known."

However, the image's publication in an era before the internet meant it slipped from view. And for many years both it and Michael Jackson's potentially one and only trip to the county was forgotten.

But, in 2011, the image was found among a collection of 42 photo albums dating back to the 1880s at Dover's Eastern Docks by staff at the Dover Harbour Board.

Other items found included images of actors Catherine Zeta Jones and Pam Ferris on the vessel during the heyday of ITV hit the Darling Buds of May, and a letter from former Prime Minister Winston Churchill written on January 1, 1941. In it, he thanked staff at Dover for their good wishes and recognising the sacrifice of the people of Dover during the Second World War.

However, it was the picture of the self-styled King of Pop which captured the imagination.

An appeal for background to the image revealed the name of the ship's captain and some memories from passengers.

One day-tripper explained: "About halfway across the Channel, news was circulating that Michael Jackson was on board and in a part of the boat sectioned off away from the rest of the passengers. When the boat arrived [at Calais] there was a minibus with blacked out windows, first off, leaving the ferry and we were told it was carrying the star and that he was heading for Paris."

It is the only time Michael Jackson was documented to have visited the county.

"About halfway across the Channel, news was circulating that Michael Jackson was on board..."

However, in 2009, on the day he announced a string of comeback shows at the O2 Arena in London, it is believed he visited Foxbury Manor in Chislehurst in the London Borough of Bromley - but once part of Kent.

He had arranged to rent the sprawling multi-million pound mansion during what was to have been a record-breaking run of 50 sold-out nights at the Greenwich venue - some 10 miles away - between July 2009 and March 2010.

The clamour to get tickets was immense. Despite his fading record sales and high-profile court cases - he was acquitted in 2005 of child sex abuse charges - his legendary status remained strong and there was huge global demand to see the entertainer back on the stage in his first full production for more than 10 years.

In fact, such was the demand, it was reported two million people attempted to secure tickets during the pre-sale window alone - with such demand seeing an additional 40 dates added to the original ten announced. Some 750,000 tickets for the London shows were sold in just four hours.

Called the This Is It shows, it would later transpire they were to be the forerunner to lengthy residencies elsewhere in the world and the centre of a huge multi-million pound industry aimed at reviving the star's flagging fortunes.

However, fate was to intervene.

On June 25, 2009 - just days before Jackson and his team were due to fly to London to start preparations for the shows, the superstar suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles. Despite frantic efforts to revive him he could not be saved. He was just 50.

His doctor would later be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for administering a cocktail of drugs the performer had become hooked on to help tackle excruciating pain and anxiety he was suffering from as rehearsals for the London shows ramped up.

The Pride of Dover ferry continued to operate the Dover to Calais route until the end of 2010. She was eventually taken to Turkey and scrapped in 2013.