A man who once tried to drive a Volkswagen Beetle across the sea is planning to make waves in his home village.

Steve Good has made a splash by helping to force the first parish council elections for years in Northmoor, near Witney.

Normally, there are just five names put forward to fill five vacancies every four years.

But Mr Good, of Rectory Farm Cottage, has for the first time decided to have a crack at parish pump politics.

So now there are six candidates - and the village will go to the polls on May 1.

He said: "My dad fought in the Second World War for the right to vote, so I thought it only right to have an election even if it is just for the parish council."

In 1986, Mr Good thought he could take on the Irish Sea in a converted VW called the Water Beetle.

It was a stunt dreamed up with a drinking companion, former Blue Peter TV presenter Peter Duncan.

They were followed by a BBC film crew in a fishing boat as they set out from Stranraer in west Scotland, aiming to get to Larne in Northern Ireland.

They actually managed to get 18 miles from the coast before choppy seas and engine failure forced them to abandon the car.

Film footage at the time showed Mr Good scrambling out through a hatch in the vehicle's roof.

"It's a claim to fame", said the 56-year-old who also looks back on a career of providing special effects with boats in the film industry.

He added: "I know parish elections don't normally send the blood racing, but I hope my escapade across the ocean adds a bit of fun to an otherwise somewhat boring topic."

The other five candidates contesting the Northmoor parish election are David Anderson, William Bint, Robert Florey, Matthew Prickett and Valerie Ryan.

There are 19 parishes in west Oxfordshire where nominations were invited for elections this year.

Only voters in Northmoor, Charlbury, Milton-under-Wychwood and Tackley will need to choose.