Bucks Free Press editor Steve Cohen is now a bottle blond - thanks to a charity stunt for a local hospital.

He dared the readers to sponsor both him and a solicitor for the hair-raising experience.

Dying with embarrassment, Steve (42), who's been grey since school, said: "I will do anything for fun and a good cause.

"I always liked my hair the way it was but people have always taken the mickey out of it.

"Initially, the bleach made me go yellow and I looked as if I had a banana on my head, but Chic Hair later fine-tuned it to a honey-blond colour."

His solicitor friend Clive Hitchen was transformed from a respectable brunette into an equally respectable blond.

The pair raised £1,000 between them for specialist keyhole surgery at Wycombe Hospital.