COMEDIAN and author David Baddiel may have been expecting slightly more nine to 12-year-olds when he took to the stage to discuss his successful sideline in children's books at an East Lancashire educational establishment.

But the former Fantasy Football star revealed, to a Westholme School audience, across the age range, that he was well used to 'channelling his inner 11-year-old' as part of his writing style.

And pupils from several local primary schools, and Westholme students, were involved as he read excerpt from his children’s books and spoke to the children about his career as an author.

Later An Audience with David Baddiel packed out the Croston Theatre at the senior school site, with BBC Radio Lancashire host John Gilmour hosting an informal chat with the 51-year-old.

The native New Yorker, who moved to London when he just four months old, has forged a fresh career as a children's author, and gave a reading from The Parent Agency, where youngster Barry Bennett is transported to a world in which he can select a new mother and father.

Introducing the evening, he said: "I don't think that there's that much difference between writing for children or writing for grown-ups any more. Whatever I'm writing I channel the 11-year-old inside me anyway."

He also told how his son Ezra had inspired his debut attempt, after an intense discussion over why Harry Potter had never ditched the dastardly Dursley family, before he returned for a new term at Hogwarts.

Sixth-former Annabel Steele said: "David spent all afternoon with more than 400 students, from Year 5 to 8 in the theatre, talking about where his ideas came from, an insight into the writing process and how he gets over writer's block."

His other children's book is The Person Controller and his next effort, The Boy Who Could Do What He Liked, is released later this month. Some of his adult books include Time For Bed, Whatever Love Means, The Secret Purposes and The Death of Eli Gold.