The Bishop of Horsham suspected he was being sent-up when Ali G asked if he could perform a miracle by levitating his chair off the ground.

The Right Rev Lindsay Urwin was convinced of the fact when the self-proclaimed leader of the Staines Massive asked if the Virgin Mary had been "messin' around."

"They came down around the middle of last year and I said, 'Where's the guy interviewing me?' and they said he was 'chilling out in the van'. I thought that was a bit strange as Jeremy Paxman doesn't do that.

"When the interview started it took me a little while to work out it was a send-up rather than a proper young person's show.

"It didn't take me long to work out after he asked if I could make the chair go up and down.

"But I gave as good as I got and it gave me an opportunity to talk about God and it's helped me enormously in talking to teenagers.

"I was at a Leicestershire grammar school recently and they said, 'Excuse me, Bishop, but were you on Ali G?'.

"I think people in positions of authority should put themselves on the line occasionally, although I haven't watched the interview as I don't like seeing myself on the television.

"One thing I will say, out of no disrespect for Ali G, is he is not as quick as he appears on television. Sometimes I managed to stump him - I did that when we were talking about abortion.

"The interview lasted about an hour but was, I understand, heavily edited and lasted only a few minutes.

"He did stay on and talk for a while afterwards and he was drifting in and out of character. It's quite clear he really has to psych himself up into character.

"There are some people who say Ali G deceives people in the way he gets them on to the television, but I don't mind at all and I have used it to my advantage."