Budding children's author Chris Sandiford has beaten off thousands of other would-be writers in a competition to create the best bedtime story.

Chris, 35, of Ford, Queensbury, has won through to the last 15 of the Once Upon a Bedtime story competition run by Sky TV's children's show Nick Jnr.

His tale, William and the Wish Biscuit, was inspired by his love of reading to his two year-old son Max at his beside.

And to his own confession that he has still not grown up.

"I'm still a kid at heart," said Chris, whose wife Julie encouraged him to enter the competition, which attracted 8,000 writers nationwide.

"I love children's books and I still relate to a lot of kids' stuff," admitted Chris.

His success follows a period when he give up writing after the disaster of losing a draft of a children's novel he had composed when his computer hard disc crashed.

"It really knocked me back. I didn't write anything for six years. My confidence was knocked.

"Then about three years ago I got back into writing, poetry and stories for children. And this competition has been a big incentive," said Chris, who in his day job writes technical manuals for military aircraft and has been scribbling stories since a small boy.

He dashed out his latest piece in about an hour and it tells of a young boy who discovers that every time he eats a biscuit, a wish comes true, until he ends up being able to fly.

"I had in mind the way I read stories to Max. I like to make daft noises and sound effects to go with the plot.

"When the organisers of the competition contacted me, I was gobsmacked to coin a phrase. I'd actually forgotten all about it," he added.

Chris is now in with a chance to become one of the three finalists, a winner and two runners up, who will have their story turned into a short animation to be screened on Nick Jnr in February, plus a special animation cell to take home.

The overall winner in addition will also receive a creative writing weekend break worth £750 and £250 worth of book vouchers.

A competition spokesman said: "Not only are bedtime stories a way to help toddlers develop language skills but they encourage creativity and allow their imagination to fly."