LITTLE Callum Houghton's cheeky grin lit up the St Helens Show's centre stage on Sunday after he was crowned Starlad champion for 2001.

Super Hero fan Callum, who is only 4-years-old and from Sutton Leach, had the audience and judges in stitches when he revealed that he has 16 girlfriends. And he proved himself to be a real 'action man' when he acted out a super hero move on the stage.

Callum's delighted parents, Cath and Paul were stunned by their son's success. Cath said: "I think it's his personality that won it for him. He's very popular with everyone. But I'm shocked and a bit emotional. I wasn't even going to enter him until the last minute."

And when asked what his string of girlfriends would think of his achievement Callum beamed: "I'm gonna have even more girlfriends now."

Second place went to animal-lover Louis Yates (6) from West Park. Louis, who attends Queens Park Primary School, has an astonishing array of pets, which include a snake, five cats, two dogs, some fish and even a rat!

Proud parents Ian and Lindsay said: "We're really proud of him and thrilled to bits. We didn't really expect him to win anything and I guess it was the luck of the day."

Football mad Ryan Bendle (8) took third place. Ryan, from St Helens, is a big Manchester City fan. When he grows up he would like to mix it with the stars in New York and become a famous DJ.

Ryan's family revealed that his mum, Mandy, died last year and they said that she "would have been really proud of him". Dad, Warren, said he was immensely proud of his "special lad".