IT all started after he was hit by lightning 15 years ago.

Michael Anthony Lee struck on a journey of jest and humour by applying for jobs which don’t exist.

The Oakes man, known to his friends as Tony, can also rightly be referred to as the official Beast of Bodmin Moor after securing theposition.

Although he was less successful in his application to be the mayor of El Paso, and, surprisingly, no-one in government took the chance to appoint him Official Government Scapegoat – something they must surely be regretting now.

The Oakes dad-of-two, married to wife Ann-Marie, has written to and received replies from hundreds of organisations after applying for imaginative job titles.

Previously he has released three books, but now he’s brought the collection together, which will be released later this month.

Michael, a keen poet, said: “The last 15 years or so have been an interesting saga.

“It was in February 1995 when I was running with a friend and there was a heck of a storm coming in.

“My friend said ‘should we take shelter under the motorway’ and I said ‘there’s something like one in a million chance of us getting hit’.

“I saw my right hand and foot light up – we’d both been struck by lightning.

“I don’t know if it was that which led to me applying for such jobs, it was something which seemed like fun.”

His first application came while he was enjoying a beer and listening to music.

The salesman applied for the position of mayor of El Paso and was stunned when a TV news station phoned him saying he was in the running.

Sadly, the position went elsewhere but it gave him the idea to send more out.

He applied to The Archbishop of Canterbury to become stableboy for the four horses of the apocalypse; to Downing Street to become Official Government Scapegoat and to Buckingham Palace to become Principal Prodder and Nudgemaster in the House of Lords.

Many responded with wit and humour, including the recipient of his request to be Lady Godiva’s horse for Coventry carnivals – they suggested he be gelded and he decided not to pursue the matter.

Mr Lee added: “It started out as a bit of fun and it’s gone on from there.

“I would have thought, leading up to a General Election, all parties would be open to the idea of Official Scapegoat.”

His first book ‘Written In Jest’ included a foreword by Michael Palin and includes the tale of his inauguration as the Beast of Bodmin Moor while dressed in a tiger outfit.

He continued his journey, writing to Battersea Dogs Home for a hair of the dog, to Wilkinsons for a corporate ladder and to Durham University for the position of Professor of Geography in a bid to track down the elusive Cloud Cuckoo Land, which formed his second book ‘Wanted One Freudian Slip’.

His third ‘Nothing to Complain About’ includes trivia such as writing to the Royal Horticultural Society about a cheese plant which failed to harvests cheese.

The three books will be published under the name ‘Letters From A Professional Nuisance’ later this month under the Portico label by Anova Books priced £9.99.