A Cobham boy got up close and personal with sheep organs while on stage for a Christmas lecture to be televised this month.

The annual Royal Institution lectures are well known demonstration-based events aimed at making science interesting for young people, and this year the focus is on weird and wonderful creatures.

Tom Stannard, 11, who attends Parkside School, was given the chance to get on stage to assist Dr Alison Woollard, a lecturer in genetics at the University of Oxford, in demonstrating functions of specialised cells with a sheep’s lung.

Tom said: “It was really fun being on stage and taking part in an experiment with Alison. I got to inflate a lung with a bicycle pump which was amazing. I’ve never seen real lungs or a heart or a brain up close like that before.”

His episode will air on BBC Four on December 28.