HE has wrestled alligators and grown a four-metre-long tapeworm in his stomach.

Yesterday TV presenter Mike Leahy faced the pupils of Burford School. He was talking to them about filming science programmes and some of the risks he faces during experiments for his TV shows.

Harriette Gillespie, 11, was one of the pupils listening to his talk.

She said: “It was very good. My parents would never tell me anything like the things he told us.

“He told us all about diseases and the gross body functions which can go wrong.”

Mr Leahy, from Enstone, said: “Science can be fascinating. There’s no need to dumb it down when making TV shows, but sometimes novel and imaginative ways need to be found to explain scientific stories.

“I choose to use by body as my experimental equipment.”