Meet the Five-Year-Old Inventor

If they market the idea, this kid could really clean up.

Bright spark Sam Houghton has already had a brush with greatness - at the age of five.

Inspired by his heroes Wallace and Gromit, Sam has become Britain's youngster inventor by patenting an idea for a new type of broom.

He had the brainwave as his dad Mark swept up garden leaves. Two brushes were in use, one to clear up larger leaves and twigs, the other to catch finer debris.

Sam tied them together to save Mark the trouble of switching. The result was the Improved Broom which can be flipped around for different jobs.

The child, who was only three at the time, was granted the patent and is thought to be the youngest to hold one in this country.

Sam said: "I don't know if I want to be an inventor when I grow up but this was fun. I saw my daddy brushing up and made it. There are two brushes because one gets the big bits and one gets the little bits left behind."

Mark used his experience as a patent attorney to get his son's idea through the rigorous procedures of the UK Intellectual Property Office.

Mr Houghton insists the idea was all Sam's and he just did the paper work.

He said: "It was such a simple solution only a child could have come up with it. He asked why I kept swapping brooms and I said it was to pick up the different leaves and twigs.

"He got a large elastic band and put it over the two brooms, holding them just the right way to use both together.

"He then called me and announced he had made up an invention.

"The application described the underlying principle and Sam's specific way of using the invention."

The broom has a coarser brush at the front to pick up large objects and a finer brush at the back.

Mr Houghton spent £200 getting the application approved but the family from Buxton, Derbys, have no immediate plans to market it.