Two budding presenters from Bradford could be plucked from obscurity and thrust onto our TV screens.

Ben Knappet, from Bingley, and Noel Salmon, from Eccleshill, have been named as two of 86 finalists who have reached the final stages of the BBC's nationwide hunt for new talent.

The pair were chosen from 11,000 auditioned applicants, ranging from booksellers and solicitors to a sales assistant and a deputy producer on Channel 4's Big Breakfast.

Noel, 20, auditioned at the National Museum of Photogra-phy, Film and Television earlier this year during the BBC's FutureWorld exhibition.

The former pupil at Eccleshill Upper School was encouraged to enter by his friend and has been shortlisted as a children's TV presenter for BBC Scotland.

He said: "I can't believe I've been picked. It went all right on the preliminary audition, but I never thought it would go this far.

"I've got a younger brother and sister and I enjoy babysitting with them. I'm quite a happy person and I think I can portray that in front of the cameras and have a laugh with the kids. It's fantastic."

Ben, also 20, is one of only seven to have been shortlisted as a presenter for Tomorrow's World.

BBC Talent launched the search in March in a bid to find eight new hosts for programmes including long-running mainstream shows.

The presenters were called to auditions in eight major cities, where they had to speak about themselves for 60 seconds, before auditioning a chosen piece to camera.

All the finalists will attend screen tests and further interviews with producers at BBC Television Centre in London on September 16, with the winners due to be announced in a BBC1 programme in November.

The finalists range in age from 18 to 56 and come from the length and breadth of the UK.