Questions from young children are often a source of amusement.

But when a little boy was heard to ask his teacher why Mary and Joseph had named their little boy after a swear word, magician Steve Legg decided something had to be done - and waving his magic wand was not enough.

After three years of fund-raising, his Littlehampton-based charity The Breakthrough Trust has now completed a 30-minute animated film about three little birds to teach children about the Christmas story.

Copies of It's A Boy are being distributed to all 26,000 primary schools across the UK next month and its celebrity premiere takes place at the end of November at The Odeon in London's Leicester Square.

The 38-year-old had to raise £200,000 for the project, which was refused lottery funding. He said: "I'm feeling dead chuffed about it. In the three years, it has developed as if it was a baby, starting off as a leaflet and into something bigger, until finally becoming a film that potentially six million school children will watch. I hope children are really going to enjoy it and have a good old laugh as well as get to think about what Christmas is all about, that it's not just the turkey, the tinsel, TV repeats and Only Fools And Horses but about a little baby who came to give life."

The father-of-four, who lives in Malin Road, Littlehampton, has enlisted the help of a string of celebrities, including singer Sir Cliff Richard, who performs the music soundtrack, and comedians Joe Pasquale, Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball who provide voice-overs.

Steve said: "There are more than 12 million children in the UK and only 756,000 of them go to Church regularly. That leaves a staggering number who don't go and are probably not receiving basic Christian teaching.

"We're not trying to ram religion down people's throats, but at a time when political correctness is so prevalent, it's important to ensure a basic level of teaching continues in our schools."

The film is about the birth of Jesus seen through the eyes of three quails who are captured by King Herod. They escape so they can warn Mary and Joseph about the king's attempts to trace their baby, meeting the three wise men and the shepherds on the way.

For the past 17 years, Steve has toured the country and gone abroad to perform his comedy and escapology stunts.

The money raised funded his performances about Christianity in schools and prisons, and now the film.

He also received donations to develop his storyline.

He said: "We produced the whole thing ourselves. I found some fantastic animators so I've been in charge all the time and many of the celebrities are friends of mine."

Up to 700 children will watch the premiere on November 27, joined by celebrities including Sir Cliff and Big Brother winner and presenter Kate Lawler.

Steve plans to make a series of films. The next will be about Easter.