HE is the man who brought sin, sin, sin, dec, sin to the streets of York.

That is the Latin marching cry of Keith Mulhearn, of Roamin' Tours of York, as he leads his legions of schoolchildren around the city.

His "left, left, left, right, left" marshals the steps as well as thoughts of pupils as, in the guise of Maximus Gluteus, he drills into them some of the major touchstones of their curriculum.

Now Keith has not only been nominated for the title of Business Personality Of The Year in The Press Business Awards 2006, but his organisation is also pitching for the Best Business and Education Link accolade.

With the bravery of a centurion, Keith abandoned his job as a bricklayer to bring up his two little sons, Conor, then aged three, and Danny, two.

Then seven years ago a Roman-garbed Keith started an occasional one-man tour guide service which evolved into an educational, event-organising attraction, with a small legion of volunteers at his command. It also attracted the award for York's "best city tour" and three years ago, the "Ambassador of York" title, again in the York tourism awards.

His street marches became so popular that he was invited into classrooms to continue the tale of the days of York when it was Eboracum. He was even invited as far afield as Blackburn, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, but because of commitments restricted himself to within a 30-mile radius of York. "The most popular talks are ones about chariot racing, arms and weapons and toilets!" says Keith.

One of his biggest challenges was to represent York Tourism Bureau at a festival in York's twin city of Munster in Germany. His talk at a school was so successful that he was invited back the following year.

This year, with the help of York Tourism Bureau, he returned to the Munster festival and again gave his talk in German schools.

Back home, Keith organised his own Roman Festival four years ago, where many of the activities were education-based, and now, with the help of a co-organiser, it has become a regular annual feature in the city's events calendar.

A big breakthrough came when he met his own "arms dealer", a designer of children's plastic Roman armour and helmets, which he bought in bulk. This, added to his collection of foam rubber spears and wooden shields, made his parties of schoolchildren appear that much more fierce.