Former champion hopes to become 'Simon Cowell of Scrabble'

A former world Scrabble champion from Cheshire who is hoping to reclaim his title says he wants to become the "Simon Cowell" of the word game.

Mark Nyman, who won the title more than 20 years ago, will travel to Australia in November to compete in the 2015 World Scrabble Championships.

He said he wanted to bring the game to a bigger audience in the way the TV presenter and music producer has transformed the music world and reality TV shows.

"I want to make Scrabble huge, or be instrumental in making it possibly an Olympic sport, part of the school curriculum. I think all these things can happen ultimately because it's massive online and it's the biggest word game in the world. "

He told North West Tonight's Ian Haslam how his preparations were going.