HE caused a sensation online when he was snapped carrying a box on his head in Bolton town centre — and now The Bolton News has tracked him down.

The man with the balancing skills was Alain Job, owner of the Cameroonian food stall Nkono in Bolton Market.

Mr Job, who is well known to market visitors for his exuberant sales pitches, was on a routine shopping trip to Argos in nearby Trinity Street Retail Park to pick up the 11kg pressure cooker, when he decided to pick up some rice from Family Bargains.

Realising he had bought more than he could carry, Mr Job placed the pressure cooker in the middle of his head and walked back to Bolton Market.

Mr Job, aged 43, of Rothwell Street, Deane, said: “I looked at what I’d bought and I said to myself ‘how am I going to carry all this back to the market?’

“I thought of getting a taxi, but that would have been a waste, so I put the pressure cooker slap bang in the middle of my head, gave it a bit of a shake to get the right balance, and walked back to the market — no problem.

“When I got back to the market, people were saying I was all over the internet and I thought ‘what have I done this time?’"

Most of us mere mortals would quiver at the prospect of balancing an 11kg cooker on our heads – but Mr Job is well prepared for the task.

He said: “I have been balancing things on my head since childhood.

“When I was a young boy in Boumiyebel in Cameroon, I used to walk to the market with my grandmother and I would carry vegetables and fruit on my head for four miles.

“The heaviest objects I have ever had on my head were two bags of cement, which added up to 50kg.

"I have also balanced a 22kg pumpkin."

“I could probably balance anything up to 80kg on my head comfortably. I’ve got really, really good balance.”

Not only has Mr Job’s shopping trip made him an online sensation — it has also saved him time and money when cooking food.

He said: “Before I bought the pressure cooker, I was using normal pans to cook my goat curry and oxtail, which took three hours.

“This pressure cooker can do it in 45 minutes, so I’m really happy with it.”