A MAN who spent the early part of his life in St Helens has put his name forward to run for President of the United States in 2020.

Michael E. Arth, who has registered as a Democrat candidate for the race, spent the first 16 months of his life in St Helens.

Michael, 65, was born to American parents at the Burtonwood Airbase, where his father was a meteorologist, which qualifies him as a US-born citizen.

He featured as one of the people profiled in Brian Leyland's book, St Helens: The Great & The Good, published earlier this year.

Brian explains how Michael's parents wanted to live among the English to "counter the reputation of ugly Americans" and chose to live in St Helens.

Michael's family lived on Chadwick Street, Haresfinch and then at Litherland Crescent.

He has returned to the town on several occasions, visiting St Peter and Paul Catholic Church, where he and his younger sister were baptised.

Michael is described online as an artist, documentary filmmaker, author, home/landscape/urban designer, builder, public policy analyst, futurist, and a progressive Democratic politician.

In 2009 he ran for governor of Florida and has set out his campaign priorities on his website.

Brian says that Michael, who has joint US and British nationality, believes his first memory is of "looking at the row of terraced houses from the back of the car the day he left St Helens".

On his campaign website Arth states that he is a "reality-based" candidate who wants a democratic market system "that works for everyone."