A FORMER student of St Mary’s College in Wallasey has earned a place in the next Guinness Book of World Records as a television presenter.

Steve MacDonald, is host on Shopping Channel and fronted the show continuously for 25 hours, smashing the previous record, held by an American, by a resounding seven hours.

And this week, Wallasey-born Steve told viewers about his visit to his old school, meeting his old teachers and even two of his former classmates who now work there.

When his producer came up with the idea of going for the record, funny man Steve, with his 'cheeky chappie' image, was not found wanting.

But it was a tough call, and he openly admits that he 'hit the wall' at around 5.30am after starting his marathon at 3pm the previous day.

Steve said: "I was incoherent, and felt terrible. But once I had hit the wall, I was able to carry on".

Guinness adjudicators had allowed him five minutes' break for every hour presenting, and as his marathon went on, he chose to roll these up to take together towards the end.

It was a tactic that helped him achieve the 25 hours - but he would have smashed the record anyway.

Steve still visits relatives in New Brighton but lives in London with his wife Victoria.

He left St Mary's in 1998 and has fond memories of his time there, and remembers in particular teachers like Deputy Head Mr John Lally, Head of Year Mr Theo Kaloumenos, and Head of Arts Ms Alison Keen.

He recalls being able to make his English teacher, Ms Lynda Drennan, laugh with his classroom patter, and being told off by Mr Lally for talking in class ~ when he was obviously honing his skills for the future!

He left St Mary's to work in ICT at the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, but within three months he had taken the opportunity to join a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

There he got his first 'open mike' experience and started to perfect his stand-up routines. Then, at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival eight years ago, he was spotted by a TV executive and offered a job on Bid TV and Price-Drop.

He has also performed at London comedy stores, worked as the warm-up act on TV game shows and invited to appear on ITV's This Morning programme as the 'gadget guy' talking about the latest gadgets and gizmos.